Brittany Christina McKinney: NC woman gets 3 life sentences for murdering daughter, niece and housemate
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA: A North Carolina woman, who plead guilty to the fatal murder of three people, including a 10-year-old girl and a 2-year-old girl, received three life sentences without parole on Thursday, December 01, according to Guilford County District Attorney’s Office.
Brittany Christina McKinney, 31, was arrested in January 2020 in connection to the deaths of her 2-year-old niece Serenity Rose, her daughter M’kenzie McKinney, 10, and the 61-year-old Jerry Griffin, who supposedly lived with her in her residence. The officials had charged her with three counts of first-degree murder after an initial investigation.
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The Greensboro Police Department was made aware of the murders after they received a call from Mckinney’s concerned relative around 11 am on January 1, requesting a welfare check at her residence. Upon their arrival, the officials recovered the deceased bodies of the three individuals. “All three victims were located inside the residence and they were all suffering from gunshot wounds,” Ronald Glenn, a public information officer for Greensboro Police Department, told Oxygen.com.
By the time, police reached her residence, McKinney had allegedly fled away from the crime scene in Griffin’s 2011 GMC SUV. The police arrested her after she collided with a utility pole and then slammed the SUV into another motorist on the 2200 block of Wendover Avenue in Greensboro, revealed police records obtained by FOX8. However, no one was harmed in that horrific collision.
Brittany was charged with a hit and run and booked for the triple murder at the scene of the crash. The authorities revealed the call for a welfare check was made by McKinney’s sister, Delilah Merritt, who told Fox8 that McKinney called her after the alleged murders. “She said, ‘I killed everybody. I shot everybody in the house,'” Merritt told the outlet. “She’s like, ‘My baby, my baby, I shot my baby.’ And then I said, ‘Where’s Serenity?’ and she said, ‘I shot her too.'”
Police have not released several details about the killings, including her motive for the triple homicide. It is unclear what led up to the violence. The McKinney family is still puzzled as to what led to the shootings. “We don’t know what happened — we’re just in shock,” Denise McKinney Weeks, Brittany McKinney’s mother, told Oxygen.com. “I have no answers.”
“We know that this is not her character, this is not her,” Denise added. “The love a parent has for a child is unconditional. We’re devastated with what happened. We’re not sure of the ‘why’ or the ‘how.’ The love I have for her has not changed.” The family also described Brittany’s 2-year-old niece, Serenity, as a “funny” toddler with a voracious appetite.