Shooting deaths of 5 family members came just after 9-year-old’s birthday party: ‘We don’t understand’

A deadly shooting at an Alabama home that left a 24-year-old mother and four children dead happened shortly after a birthday party honoring one of the slain kids.

Bibb County Sheriff Jody Wade said they received a 911 call at 8:18 p.m. about a child that had been shot on Greentree Drive area of Bibb County.

They arrived to find five people shot - including four children under the age of 9.

Kelse Kendrick, 24, was found with a gunshot wound to the head, according to charging documents. Her two children, a son and a daughter, as well as a niece and nephew, were also shot.

Three of the children were dead on the scene. Kelse Kendrick and her niece were airlifted to Birmingham hospitals where they later died.

A GoFundMe for the family identified the slain children as Kaleb Kendrick, 6, Kynli Kendrick, 2, Haley Daniels, 6, and Colton Daniels, who would have turned 9 on Tuesday.

Kelse Kendrick’s husband, 32-year-old Brandon Allan Kendrick II, is charged with five counts of capital murder. The charges are four counts of capital murder of a child under the age of 14, and one count of capital murder in the slayings of two or more people in one act.

He was still on the scene when police arrived and was taken into custody.

The shooting happened at the home of Brandon Kendrick’s grandparents, Oasis of Praise Church lead pastors Allan and Gay Kendrick. Kelse Kendrick, her husband of six years and their two children lived in a garage apartment behind the pastors’ home in the West Blocton area.

The large, close-knit family had gathered at the home of Bill Morrow, Kelse Kendrick’s grandfather, for a pool party to celebrate Colton.

Brandon Kendrick did not attend Colton’s party.

The plan, said cousin Shannon McCoy, was for Kelse Kendrick and all four children to spend the night at Morrow’s home after the party. Haley and Colton’s mother, Jessica Morrow, had surgery planned for the following day and Kelse Kendrick was keeping the children since Jessica Morrow – her aunt – had to be at the hospital early Friday morning.

Brandon Kendrick repeatedly called his wife, telling her to come home.

Ultimately, McCoy said, Kelse Kendrick agreed to return home. Jessica Morrow took Kelse Kendrick and the four children back to the garage apartment.

It was just over an hour later that the elder Kendrick found the crime scene in the garage apartment and called the Morrow home.

“They got a call and said you need to come quick,’’ McCoy said. “Brandon has shot Kelse and the kids.”

McCoy was at the beach when she received the call from Jessica Morrow.

“I called 911 and dispatch sent me to West Blocton,’’ McCoy said. “They said they had cars on the way, and they had received a call of a child shot.”

“I said I don’t know how many people have been shot,’’ McCoy told them, “but there’s four children there.”

McCoy and her family loaded up and headed back home immediately.

“You can’t prepare yourself for a phone call that you have lost five family members in a second,’’ McCoy said. “You watch movies, and you think that’s never going to happen to me, in my backyard. To be honest, I don’t know how we’re going to deal with it.”

“I did not see this coming,’’ McCoy said, “and I certainly don’t think Jessica saw it coming or she wouldn’t have left her kids there.”

McCoy said the four slain cousins were close, as is the entire family.

Kelse Kendrick, she said, was a loving, caring person and wonderful mother. She was set to go back to school in August because she wanted to open her own funeral home.

“It didn’t matter if she was having a bad day or something wasn’t going right,’’ McCoy said, “she just had this contagious, wonderful laugh and everybody loved to be around her.”

In addition to the emotional loss and stress, the family is trying to figure out how to pay for the funerals. They have received an estimate of $10,000 per person.

The GoFundMe has raised nearly $13,000.

“Nobody would ever think they would have to bury five people at one time,’’ McCoy said.

Donations to the GoFundMe can be made here.

More than 300 people attended a prayer service on Friday night at the Kendricks’ McCalla church, where Associate Pastor Patrick Cooper spoke briefly.

Cooper said he believes the pastor will turn to his faith for strength in the aftermath of the tragedy.

“Your pastor’s the strongest person I’ve ever met in my life,” Cooper said. “He showed it to me this morning less than an hour after the police left. He was already, ‘God’s got this. God’s got it taken care of.’”

“This is a practical lesson in how to deal with grief and how to deal with trouble,” Cooper said. “This is a pastor’s living example right now.”

McCoy said she’s been praying for the elder Kendricks.

“I don’t see how anybody can be doing well,’’ she said. “My heart breaks that he had to witness that.”

“Our hearts are all broken,’’ McCoy said, “but that’s something he’s going to have to carry.”

A judge on Saturday appointed three attorneys to represent Brandon Kendrick. A court date has not yet been announced.

No motive has been determined.

“From what I understand, he’s not saying why this happened, so we are left with no answers,’’ McCoy said. “We don’t understand.”