The Port Huron case left one teen dead and two younger siblings with severe injuries.
PORT HURON, Mich. — Two children who survived being shot by their father in a Port Huron apartment remain central to a criminal case that ended in a guilty plea and now moves toward a June sentencing.
Jeffery Smerer, 45, admitted May 26 that he shot three of his children on Sept. 11, 2025, killing 17-year-old Kayleb Smerer and critically injuring Bentley Smerer and Kinzley Smerer. The plea came without a deal from the St. Clair County Prosecutor’s Office, leaving all 10 felony counts in place and exposing Smerer to multiple life sentences.
The surviving children’s injuries show the lasting reach of the early morning attack. Relatives said Bentley, then 13, suffered broken bones in his face, including injuries to his cheekbones, upper jaw and nasal area. Kinzley, then 12, was shot in the neck and spine area, and relatives said she was left paralyzed from the neck down. Both children were taken to hospitals after police and medics responded to Glenview Gardens Apartments. Their older brother Kayleb later died from his wounds, turning a school morning into a homicide case.
The family’s apartment was near Kraft Road and 24th Avenue, in a residential area where neighbors later gathered and shared support for the children and their mother. The shootings happened around 6 a.m., when many families in the area would have been starting a weekday routine. A relative later described the start of the morning as ordinary, saying the children were waking up for school before the violence. That ordinary setting became part of the case against Smerer, because police said the children were vulnerable and unarmed when he entered their rooms.
Detective Grafton Sharp said at a preliminary hearing that Smerer gave police a detailed account after the shooting. Sharp said Smerer told investigators he woke to an alarm, got a .380 handgun from a gun safe under his bed and walked into Bentley and Kinzley’s bedroom. He said “good morning” before stepping into a bathroom, where he looked in the mirror and questioned whether he was really going to do it, Sharp testified. Smerer then returned to the bedroom and fired, according to the detective’s account.
Bentley was under a blanket and using a cellphone when his father aimed toward the glow, Sharp testified. Kinzley was getting up when Smerer fired toward her throat, the detective said. Smerer then went to the living room, where Kayleb was on a couch, and shot him in the head, police said. Smerer later told investigators the plan was to take Kinzley, Bentley and Kayleb with him and then shoot himself. Asked why he focused on those children, police said he told them he was closest to Kinzley and Kayleb and that Kinzley was close to Bentley.
The children’s mother and an adult son helped stop the attack after the gunfire. Police said Smerer tried to shoot himself but the gun jammed. He then cut his wrist and took medication. His wife and adult son disarmed him before more violence could follow. Officers later arrested Smerer, first on an unrelated warrant, and prosecutors charged him in the shootings. A judge denied bond earlier in the case and ordered him to have no contact with the surviving children.
Smerer’s May plea changed the posture of the case from disputed prosecution to sentencing. In court, defense attorney David Kelley asked Smerer whether it was his intention to shoot the children in the home. “Yes,” Smerer answered. Kelley asked whether he had also planned to shoot himself. Smerer briefly broke down before saying yes. Judge Michael West told Smerer that pleading guilty without an agreement meant he was likely giving up any realistic chance of leaving prison. Smerer said he understood the consequence.
The charges include open murder in Kayleb’s death, two counts of assault with intent to murder for the surviving children, two counts of first-degree child abuse and five counts of felony firearm. The firearm counts carry additional punishment tied to the use of a gun during a felony. Prosecutors did not dismiss or reduce the charges. The open murder count gives the court room to address the degree of murder at sentencing, while the other charges reflect the injuries to Bentley and Kinzley and the use of the gun in each criminal act.
Investigators said Smerer linked the timing of the attack to an unrelated indecent exposure case. He was scheduled to be sentenced in that matter the same morning the shootings happened. Police said he told them he was stressed about that court date and had been planning a murder-suicide for about a week. The indecent exposure case involved a child connected to a daycare, and Smerer was later sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to register as a sex offender. That case did not involve the children who were shot.
The criminal case now leaves the court to decide punishment while the surviving children continue medical recovery. Sentencing is scheduled for June 29 before Judge West in St. Clair County Circuit Court. Smerer remains jailed, and the no-contact order remains part of the record as the family waits for the final hearing.
Author note: Last updated June 22, 2026.