Chilling downward spiral of Alabama dad ‘who executed his wife and four young children’ at pastor’s home – as family reveals heartbreak over missed red flags

A schizophrenic dad abused his wife and children for years and became even more deranged in the days before he shot them all dead, family say.

Brandon Allan Kendrick, 32, faces five counts of capital murder after the mass shooting with a 9mm pistol at his grandfather’s property in rural Alabama.

His wife Kelse Kendrick, 24, was found dead alongside their kids Kaleb, 6, and Kynli, 2, and their cousins Colton, 8, and Haley Daniels, 6, on July 18.

Kendrick suffered from schizophrenia and family explained to DailyMail.com how his mental state worsened in the weeks before the massacre.

‘Kelse and her children have been victims of domestic violence for years,’ one family member said, claiming he had a history of not taking his medication.

Kelce’s social media alluded to his downward spiral and in the days leading up to the shooting, Kendrick unnerved barbers and shop workers, and worried his grandfather enough that church brethren prayed for his safety.

He even called 911 on himself the night before, afraid of what he might do, but police left without taking action.

Hours later, Kendrick gunned down his family at the garage apartment they lived in on the property in West Blocton, about 40 miles south of Birmingham. 

The four children were found dead with gunshot wounds to their heads. Haley was still breathing at the scene but did not survive after being rushed to hospital.

Kendrick pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in Bibb County Courthouse. He will face court again on September 26.

The massacre occurred within an hour of them arriving home from a party at family patriarch Bill Morrow’s house ahead of what would have been Colton’s ninth birthday on July 23.

Kendrick was at not at the party, and relatives said his schizophrenic episodes had become so bad over previous two weeks that Kelse’s family hadn’t seen her in that time.

‘He got to a point where he couldn’t work full time, so there were financial problems from that, and she was having to take care of the kids and him so she couldn’t work either… which just made it worse,’ said Kelse’s uncle Eli Morrow.

‘Things were getting very difficult all the way around… she was doing her best to be a supportive wife.

‘The one time she gets away after things had been so hard for her, he wanted her back home.’ 

Kendrick’s family was trying to help him apply for disability, which would have lessened the financial burden. 

Kendrick has struggled with mental health issues since he was at least nine, and had a history of not taking his medication.

‘My last conversation with my daughter was about his medication,’ Kelse’s stepfather Joey Hammitt said, adding Kendrick was seeing a doctor.

The family said Kendrick had exhibited concerning behavior in the days before the massacre, including that very morning when he got his hair cut.

‘Brandon Kendrick was just at our hair salon and got his haircut. We have cut his children’s hair too,’ one worker at a Great Clips barber wrote online.

‘He was acting very depressed my coworker asked him about his family, but just shook it off assuming he was going through a rough separation.

‘Goes to show you never know what is going on in someone’s head.’ 

Kelse’s cousin also noticed ‘off’ behavior from Kendrick when the couple went into the vape shop she worked at the day before the massacre. 

Kendrick carried out his rampage at the property of his grandfather Allan Kendrick, senior pastor at Oasis of Praise Church in nearby Bessemer.

Allan claimed his grandson considered his mental state to be such an emergency that the night before he shot his family, he called 911.

‘One o’clock on Thursday morning, he’s calling 911 asking for help – only to be turned down,’ he told the congregation on July 21.

Allan said he himself was also so concerned about Kendrick that he spoke to members of his congregation hours before the massacre.

‘Our prayer team that night, about an hour before this incident, stood right here and joined hands and prayed for mine and Gay’s safety,’ he said.

Allan did not appear to have shared his concerns with authorities, and did not prevent Kelse and the four children from being around him that night.

The pastor also revealed to his congregation that Kendrick was ‘physically, sexually, and mentally’ abused until his grandparents got custody of him when he was 12. 

There was also a marked change in Kelse’s social media activity over the past year, changing from speaking in glowing terms about her husband, to appearing increasingly unhappy.

She shared a video on June 26 captioned: ‘Manipulation is when they blame you for your reaction to their toxic behavior but never discuss their disrespect that triggered you.’

Another video on the same day was labeled: ‘If you’re upset because you have to let go of someone you love, listen to this.’

Two minutes earlier she reposted a video of a woman saying: ‘I tell people all the time, when they’re like, oh you’re so strong. I’m like, but I have to be… I wanna be fragile.’

A fourth image read: ‘No one talks about the guilt you feel when you finally decide to leave someone you really love because they constantly hurt you and don’t want to change.’

Another video featured a man detailing ‘a man playing the victim in his life will say these things to his wife’.

On May 2, Kelse complained she had to defend herself because no one else would.

‘I feel like living here they think I’m crazy when I go off but I don’t care, gotta get your point across somehow or forever be ran over,’ she wrote.

April 20 included a video captioned ‘when my husband tells me to drop the attitude that I don’t actually have’ and on March 5 she shared a long post that began ‘This is for anyone who has suffered from an abusive and narcissistic relationship.’

Earlier posts last year included a scene from HBO drama The Bear with a character saying ‘I feel trapped’.

Kelse’s ‘cry for help’ posts were a marked contrast from earlier posts praising Kendrick.

‘Happy Birthday to my best friend I love you so much!! Here’s to another year,’ she wrote last February with a set of happy photos.

In September 2022, Kelse celebrated their anniversary with a sweet tribute.

‘Happy Anniversary to my person 6 years ago I fell for you and 4 years ago today we said forever and ever throughout everything we have stuck together side by side and 6 hard years and two beautiful babies later here we are with forever and ever to go! I love you so much!’ she wrote.

On Valentine’s Day that year she wrote: ‘Thank you for being the man that you are today and an amazing daddy to our babies! I wouldn’t trade you for the world and I’m blessed to call you my valentine.’

Kendrick’s Facebook bio chillingly read: ‘Living life & loving my wonderful wife and kids.’

Allan also revealed Kendrick was abused as a child, and had never even been to a restaurant before they took him to one for his 13th birthday. 

‘All he’d ever known for 12 years was abuse – physical, sexual, mental, drugs. When I got him at 12 years old he weighed 58lbs [and] he was on nine different psychotic medicines,’ he said.

‘At 18, the system failed him, took him off of disability, took him off medication because we couldn’t afford to buy it, because they canceled his Medicaid. 

‘Gay and I watched him all these years, [we tried] so hard, talked to every agency, talked to everybody, we tried everything, had him institutionalized in hospitals – only to be discharged with no medication, no follow up, no doctor, nothing.’  

During his sermon, Allan alluded to Kendrick not doing what he was supposed to do to manage his illness.

‘You can rebel, you can have a granddaddy that can tell you every day what you need to do, give you scripture every day, pray over you every day, and you can continue to rebel until your life is gone… don’t ever tell me God didn’t give you a chance,’ he said.

Earlier in the sermon Allan described how he wrestled the gun from Kendrick after he threatened him and his wife Gay Kendrick with it minutes after the massacre.

‘[Gay] was closest to him and she grabbed the gun, it went off – I don’t know how it kept from hitting her,’ he said.

‘I was able to subdue him, and once that happened he didn’t know where he was at, he started asking me and Gay “where am I? Where’s Kelse? Poppy, why are you angry? What did I do wrong?”‘

Kaleb was the final victim and shot outside the garage apartment, possibly while running for his life, which is how Allan heard the gunfire.

Allan called 911 about 8.18pm, and then got on the phone to Bill.

‘Bill, you need to get down here, Brandon has shot Kelse all the kids in the head,’ family said Allan told him.

Bill and his daughter Jessica, who is Colton and Haley’s mother, rushed to the property but found it cordoned off by police when they arrived about 9pm.

Eli’s wife Brittany Morrow explained that the massacre followed a last-minute decision by Kelse to give in to Kendrick’s demands one last time.

‘All of the children were supposed to spend the night at [Bill’s] home,’ Brittany told DailyMail.com.

‘Brandon repeatedly begged and pleaded with her to come home and she gave in… within an hour they were all shot in the head.’

Brittany explained that Colton and Haley’s mother Jessica Morrow, 35, was having major surgery the next morning, so there was no option but to send them with Kelse.

‘We live 45 minutes away. I wish to God they had asked us to take them for the night,’ she said.

‘What we are struggling with the most, is that it was a last-minute decision to take them over there, it was never in the plan because they knew he had been acting crazy.’

Kelse’s car was broken down so Jessica dropped all five of them off at home on Green Tree Drive about 7pm.

Kelse is Eli’s niece by his older sister, who has since died, and Bill’s grandfather, and the Morrow and Kendrick families have been intertwined for generations.

Eli had custody of Colton and Haley from January 2021 until last November, when a judge allowed them to return to Jessica.

‘Jessica finally got her kids back, and then this happens,’ Brittany said.

‘I am devastated and destroyed… Eli and I had full custody of them for almost three years and they were my babies.’

Police rushed to the scene and arrested Kendrick after discovering the bodies, Bibb County Sheriff Jody Wade said.

‘It’s absolutely horrible. It’s unimaginable what the family is going through, what the friends of the family are experiencing, what the community is feeling right now,’ he said. 

‘It was just a horrific scene that even seasoned officers told me it is the worst thing they’ve ever seen.

‘As officers are going, they are saying there are more children that have been shot.’ 

Wade said Kendrick was yet to tell police why he did it, but ‘I don’t know what motive he could give us that would justify what he did anyway’. 

Kendrick was booked into the Bibb County Jail about 3.30am and denied bail.

He is charged with four counts of capital murder of a child under 14, and one count of capital murder in the killing of two or more people in one act.

Oasis of Praise Church held a prayer vigil with more than 300 members the night after the massacre, saying proceeds from the collection plate would go to the families.

‘The church has committed to helping the families with expenses. If you would like to be a part of this effort, please give your donation to the church’s benevolence fund,’ it wrote on its Facebook page.

‘All donated money will be directed towards the needs of the families involved.’

Eli Morrow also started a GoFundMe page to help pay for the funerals, with his wife explaining the family didn’t want the funeral at Allan’s church.

He closed the page, which raised $31,242, after other donations brought the family’s out-of-pocket costs down to about $25,000.

‘We appreciate every kind word, financial donation and those who have brought food to keep us going. Thank you all so much for everything that you have done and continue to do,’ he wrote on the fundraiser.