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‘Sweet and kindhearted’: Friends remember Kellogg family killed in weekend shooting

Katy James, left, and Merissa Anderson, right, hug in front of the Kellogg home where their friends Kenna and Kenneth Guardipee, along with Devin and Aiken Smith, were killed Sunday evening. (Emma Epperly / The Spokesman-Review)
Katy James, left, and Merissa Anderson, right, hug in front of the Kellogg home where their friends Kenna and Kenneth Guardipee, along with Devin and Aiken Smith, were killed Sunday evening. (Emma Epperly / The Spokesman-Review)Buy a print of this photo
By Emma Epperly emmae@spokesman.com(509) 459-5122

KELLOGG – Dozens of flowers, balloons, photos and signs began piling up Tuesday in front of the duplex where a family of four was shot and killed Sunday after an altercation with their neighbor.

Kenneth Guardipee, 65; his daughter, Kenna Guardipee, 41; and her sons, Devin R. Smith, 18, and Aiken Smith, 16; were found dead at their home Sunday evening.

Their upstairs neighbor, Majorjon Kaylor, 31, was arrested in connection to their deaths.

Kenna Guardipee was “super sweet and kindhearted,” said Katy James, a longtime family friend.

Kenna Guardipee worked in the kitchen at Mountain Valley of Cascadia, an assisted living facility across the street from the duplex.

Merissa Anderson, who worked with Guardipee, said she was “very strong-willed” and hardworking.

On tough days, Guardipee was a bright light to her coworkers, Anderson said.

“She’d always give me a hug and say it will get better,” Anderson said.

When Guardipee wasn’t at work, she was outside, Anderson and James said. The family loved biking and skiing.

Guardipee was a dedicated mother, said Lori Schierman, a lifelong family friend said.

“She raised them boys on her own with her dad’s help,” Schierman said.

Aiken Smith, her younger son, was a “super good kid,” James said. He found community and purpose in the junior ROTC program, she said.

“He was very dedicated,” James said. “He was committed to the Air Force, and it was his dream to go do that.”

Devin Smith had recently graduated from Kellogg High School and struggled with a learning disability and social cues, James said. The teenager had worked hard to move past his issues, she said.

The family had just moved into the duplex where they were killed.

The family’s upstairs neighbors quickly got into conflict with the Guardipees, James said. Still, it was a shock to hear they had been killed.

Kenneth “Kenny” Guardipee had recently had a heart attack, Schierman said, but was on the road to recovery. His daughter and grandkids were the light of his life, she added.