An Alabama pastor delivered a powerful sermon detailing how he took a gun away from his grandson, shortly after a tragic shooting that left a woman and her four children dead.
Brandon Alan Kendrick II was arrested last week and charged with four counts of murder of a child under the age of 14 and one count of murder – killing two or more people in one act. AL.com.
“If you don’t believe in Jesus, you can’t just get out of here and think everything’s going to be okay because you’re no match for the devil.”
Kendrick, 32, is accused of shooting and killing his wife, Kelce Kendrick, 24, to whom he had been married for six years. Kendrick is also accused of killing the couple’s two children, Caleb Kendrick, 6, and Kinri Kendrick, 2. Also killed in the bloody shooting were the couple’s niece and nephew, Hailey Daniels, 6, and Colton Daniels, who would have turned 9 on Tuesday.
Reverend Kendrick’s grandfather, the Rev Alan Kendrick, recounted the events leading up to the horrific quintuple-murder and its aftermath in a sermon he delivered at Oasis of Praise Church in Makara on Sunday.
Kendrick said his grandson had been “laughing and talking” with him and his wife, Gay, in their bedroom 10 minutes before the unthinkable shooting.
“I told him about the first time I took him to a restaurant on his 13th birthday. He had never been to a restaurant before,” Pastor Kendrick recalled.
“For 12 years, all he knew was abuse — physical, sexual, emotional and chemical abuse,” Kendrick said of her grandson. “When I adopted him at age 12, he weighed 58 pounds. He was on nine different psychiatric medications.”
The pastor said the system didn’t work for Brandon because his disability benefits and Medicaid were cancelled when he turned 18. The family couldn’t afford his medication.
“Gay and I watched him try so hard for years,” Kendrick said. “We talked to every agency, we talked to everyone, we tried everything. We just admitted him to the hospital and then they discharged him with no medication, no follow-up, no doctors.”
Kendrick said Brandon called 911 around 1 a.m. on the day of the murder but was “refused.”
Kendrick said Kelsey Kendrick had come home, was in her bedroom with her family and was in good spirits that day.
“[Brandon] “Ten minutes later, the guy said ‘puff’ and got up,” Rev. Kendrick told his congregation, just days after a family of five was murdered in their home.
Kendrick continued, “I told Gaye, ‘That’s a gunshot,’ and she said yes.”
A short time later, Brandon came into the bedroom with a gun in hand, with Gay close behind him.
“She grabbed the gun. The gun went off. I don’t know how it didn’t hit her,” Kendrick said, crediting prayer he had had an hour before.
“Yes, yes, I know. During prayer time that night, about an hour before this incident, our prayer team stood here with their hands together in prayer. [my] “And I pray for the safety of gays,” he said. “I reached out to some members of the church, they were trying to help me and get me some help, so they prayed for us.”
Kendrick said he then forced his armed grandson to the floor.
“I was able to subdue him and after that happened he had no idea where he was,” he noted.
“He didn’t know where he was. He started asking me and Gay, ‘No, where am I? Where’s Kelce? Poppy, why, why are you upset? What did I do wrong?'” the pastor said.
Kendrick recalled, “Ten minutes earlier, he was laughing, talking, having a great time. If you don’t believe in Jesus, don’t you think you should just get out of here, you’re no match for the devil, and everything’s going to be okay?”
He told his congregation: “If the devil were to possess you, do you think you would be strong enough to resist him? You’d better have your heart right with God, because you might be the next person to be on national news.”
Pastor Kendrick also addressed concerns that he should not be preaching just days after a horrific family tragedy.
“I’ve had a few people call me. [and say]”‘Pastor, I can’t preach on Sunday. You can’t get up on Sunday and preach with what you’ve been through and what’s going on right now. It would be too hard,'” he told his congregation.
She added: “What I’m doing now is going to be criticised. I should be sad. I should be sad. I shouldn’t be able to do anything. I should pull down the blinds and stay at home.”
But Kendrick declared, “No, when I hear this I say, ‘I will look to the mountains from whence cometh my help.’ My help comes from the Lord.”
a GoFundMe A crowdsourcing campaign was launched to help cover an estimated $50,000 in funeral expenses for the five family members killed. At the time of writing, the crowdsourcing campaign had raised over $31,000.
You can watch Kendrick tell his tragic story to the congregation. here.
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