Siblings fatally shot Monday in Spokane Valley identified

Danny Kenison’s words glimmered with enthusiasm: “The whole family is migrating to the Great Northwest!!” he wrote in a Facebook post in April.

The former Air Force officer had just taken a plane to Boise to pick up his sister, Brenda Kenison, and her 7-year-old son, Cooper. The three then loaded their belongings into a U-Haul truck and drove back to Danny’s house in Spokane Valley.

The family had high spirits as they flocked to the area; Danny and Brenda’s parents had moved to Cheney just weeks earlier.

But on Monday morning, the unthinkable happened at Danny Kenison’s house.

As Brenda Kenison finished strapping Cooper into his car seat for a ride to school, a black car pulled up directly behind hers, blocking it in the driveway. A man stepped out and an argument ensued. She ran to the house and he chased her inside, according to court records.

The man started firing a .22-caliber handgun, littering the floor with shell casings. Authorities said he shot her multiple times. Her brother took a single shot to the abdomen.

“Danny was in the shower and heard gunshots, and he jumped out to get his own gun,” said Lance Kolbet, Brenda Kenison’s ex-husband and father of Cooper. “There wasn’t a lot Danny could do.”

As the assailant fled the house, Cooper unbuckled himself and got out of the car. A neighbor told police the black sedan sped from the neighborhood.

Cooper went inside the house and found his mom and uncle dead on the floor. He found his uncle’s phone and called 911 for help. He also gave dispatchers a suspect: his mother’s ex-boyfriend, Gilberto Delgado.

A 44-year-old felon with a history of violence, Delgado met Brenda Kenison only a few months ago and already had her name tattooed on his forearm. Authorities said she stopped dating him after learning of his criminal past.

Kolbet referred to Delgado as a “stalker.”

Kolbet maintained an amicable relationship with Kenison after their divorce in 2010. They talked regularly about Cooper and the people in his life, Kolbet said.

“The part that’s alarming to me is, I didn’t even know this guy existed,” he said of Delgado. “My theory is that once she figured out what this guy is about … I have no doubt that she was trying to distance herself from him.”

The shooting sparked a daylong search that ended when Idaho State Police troopers arrested Delgado in a Taco Bell parking lot in Blackfoot, about 25 miles from Kolbet’s home in Pocatello. He had been traveling south on Interstate 15 in a black Dodge Dart matching a description of the car from the crime scene.

Danny Kenison worked as a contract specialist with the U.S. General Services Administration. Brenda Kenison had recently taken a job at a local community health center and was searching for her own home.

“All the jobs she had, they always had to be helping other people,” Kolbet said. “She just wanted to save the world.”

Frankie Browning said she and Brenda Kenison were best friends for 20 years. They lived together while attending Eastern Washington University and took a four-month trip to Europe.

“Her soul, her spirit was like a magnet,” Browning said. “She was just so attractive inside and out. She faced a lot of adversity in her life, and you would never know it.”

Kolbet visited the Spokane Valley Police Department on Tuesday to thank the deputies who cared for his son in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. He said Cooper is frightened and upset. The response from community members has helped a lot, he said.

“When we got back home to Pocatello, they already had a police car waiting for us outside, just to make sure Cooper was reassured nothing would happen to him,” Kolbet said. “I even got a text from Cooper’s first-grade teacher on the way home, asking if he’s all right.”

Browning said the Kenison family has asked for privacy and plans to hold a memorial for Danny and Brenda on Saturday. They both were 45.