Left inset: Jeffrey Smerer in court for his sentencing (Law&Crime Network). Right inset: Kinzley Smerer, Bentley Smerer and Kayleb Smerer (GoFundMe). Background: The apartment building where Jeffrey Smerer shot his three children (WDIV/YouTube).
A Michigan father who was "stressed" over an indecent exposure conviction he received is headed to prison for killing his 17-year-old son and shooting two of his other kids — with his surviving children tearing into him in court Monday at his sentencing.
"He shot us for no reason," said Jeffrey Smerer's daughter, Kinzley Smerer, while delivering a victim impact statement. "He killed one of his kids on the couch. He went right behind him and shot him in the head. The kid had his backpack on. He was ready to go to school."
Smerer, who is from Port Huron, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday without the possibility of parole after entering a guilty plea for murder. He had been planning a murder-suicide for a week before attempting to carry it out in September 2025. Smerer told cops he had been worried about an indecent exposure charge he faced in 2020 and was "stressed due to the sentencing." Smerer said he believed he "might be going to jail" after being convicted.
On the day of his attack, Smerer sliced his wrist open and took "multiple forms of medication" that he had stashed in the family's master bedroom, but was able to stay alive. Smerer used a .380 handgun to shoot his 17-year-old son, Kayleb Smerer — who died — and two of the boy's siblings, 13-year-old Bentley Smerer and 12-year-old Kinzley, who suffered critical injuries.
When it came time to take his own life, Smerer claimed his pistol "jammed." He was disarmed by his wife and 19-year-old son, who were awake and home at the time.
The 19-year-old, who was not targeted, told the court that Kayleb was Smerer's "favorite" child, so it made his death even more shocking.
"He just woke up like every other morning, got ready for school, watched his TikTok, doing whatever," the son said. "He was on the couch with his backpack on waiting for him to take them to school, and he was able to go up to him, point a gun at him, and pull the trigger."
Bentley told the court, "The first thing he said to me was, 'Good morning.' I didn't know a 'good morning' was shooting me in the face."
Speaking directly to his father, the 13-year-old added, "You deserve everything coming to you. You can cry all you want, it won't change a thing. You crippled my sister, you killed my brother. Your own children that you loved your entire life — just to kill. You deserve everything coming to you."
Smerer told police that he shot Bentley while he was "underneath a blanket" and on his cellphone.
"He was aiming towards the glow," a detective testified during a preliminary hearing last year, citing statements Smerer provided to police. "Kinzley was getting up and he aimed at her throat and fired."
Asked by cops "why he focused" on the children and chose to take their lives, the detective said Smerer claimed, "His reason was that he was closest to Kinzley and Kayleb. He also said that Kinzley was close to Bentley."
Smerer said the plan was "to take Kinzley, Bentley, and Kayleb with him and then shoot himself," according to the detective.
Smerer pleaded guilty to one count of open murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit murder and two counts of first-degree child abuse. He also pleaded guilty to five counts of felony firearm use, which carry a penalty of up to two years in prison that must be served consecutively; all five charges can be served concurrently.
"Your honor, this is without question the most difficult sentencing hearing I have participated in," Smerer's lawyer told the judge on Monday. "Nothing that can be said today diminishes the horror of what occurred on September 11, 2025. One child lost his life. Two children suffered catastrophic injuries, one of whom may live the remainder of her life confined to a wheelchair. A family has been forever shattered. There simply are no words that can adequately express the magnitude of that loss. Mr. Smerer understands that. More importantly, he has accepted responsibility for it."
The defense attorney said that Smerer "never attempted to blame anyone else for what occurred," noting how he "plainly acknowledged" that he shot his children in statements to police.
Smerer's guilty plea "cannot undo the damage" he caused or "erase the trauma suffered," according to his lawyer. "But it is a meaningful act of accountability," the attorney said.
"That had the effect of avoiding a very lengthy, very emotional, very difficult trial that probably would have resulted in the exact same outcome that your guilty plea did," the judge told Smerer. "And to the extent that that was avoided, that is a good thing for those victims."