Man charged with arranging fatal ambush of Microsoft manager faces murder trial

Tyunews.com –

Florida Trial Opens in Plot to Kill Microsoft Executive Outside His Car

Tyunews.com – In Duval County court, a murder trial began Monday against a man accused of orchestrating the drive-by shooting that killed a 33-year-old technology executive in Jacksonville Beach. The case, now more than four years old, centers on an alleged hire-a-killer arrangement tied to a bitter custody dispute.

The Shooting

Police reconstructed the scene from 2022: Jared Bridegan was pulled over by a tire deliberately laid across the roadway. While he stepped out to inspect it, shots rang out repeatedly. His two-year-old son sat strapped in a car seat inside the vehicle at the time. Bridegan was on his way home to St. Augustine after dropping off his nine-year-old twins at his ex-wife’s residence — a routine “date night” visit, according to investigators.

The Alleged Conspiracy

Prosecutors say the ambush was engineered by Bridegan’s former wife, Shanna Gardner, 39, and her then-current husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38. Saldana faces a first-degree murder count in Duval County court. Gardner also carries a murder charge, but her trial is not scheduled until September.

The couple divorced in 2015, yet the split spawned years of conflict over co-parenting their two children. Judge London Kite, summarizing evidence at a 2024 bond hearing, wrote that Gardner “hated Mr. Bridegan, hated having to share custody of the children with him and wanted him dead.”

The Gunman’s Role

Henry Tenon, 65, was identified as the triggerman. He entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder in 2023 and agreed to testify against Saldana. Earlier this year, however, he reversed course, withdrew the plea, and now faces his own trial in 2027. Authorities disclosed that Tenon received at least $10,000 from Gardner and Saldana following the killing, and his DNA was recovered from the tire that blocked Bridegan’s path.

A Life Cut Short

Bridegan had married Kirsten in 2017 and was father to two children with her. Before joining Microsoft as a design manager, he served as chief technology officer at Utah-based Clean Simple Eats, according to his obituary.

On their 2024 anniversary, Kirsten Bridegan posted a tribute on social media:

“I am so sorry that once you had found happiness and fulfillment in life, your life was taken from you. But I am so grateful I got to be part of those short years and that we shared so much happiness before it was too late.”