JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Today marks two years since Jared Bridegan was shot and killed in an ambush attack in Jacksonville beach. Since then, the murder and the alleged plot to kill Bridegan in a quiet neighborhood street has made national headlines. Three people are now charged in connection with his murder, including his ex-wife and her estranged husband Mario Fernandez Saldana, and Saldana’s former tenant Henry Tenon
While the details surrounding Bridegan’s death continue to unravel, his family continues to mourn.
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Action News Jax Annette Gutierrez spoke with relatives who say their hearts are extra heavy today.
Jared Bridegan’s sister, Ashley, spoke with Gutierrez a few weeks ago – and she said her family misses him dearly.
“Jared had the heart of gold and he loved his children with all of his heart, all four of them,” Ashley Bridegan said.
Ashley said she couldn’t speak on camera today because the grief from that night 24 months ago is too painful to talk about today.
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On February 16th 2022, Bridegan, was shot and killed in what police say was a planned attack. He had just dropped off his twins at his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner’s house – a routine new documents reveal had been in place for at least eight months before the homicide.
It also says Gardner had motive to kill Bridegan and police accused her of plotting to murder him.
Those documents also suggest Gardner had a motive to kill Bridegan and police accused her of plotting his murder. They say when Bridegan and Gardner filed for a divorce, they decided on 50/50 custody of the kids, but Gardner could not move the children out of state without Bridegan’s consent or a court order. Multiple witnesses told detectives Gardner had a lot of “hate” for Bridegan.
Additionally, the documents revealed Tenon’s Google data. This shows that Tenon drove the homicide route on two prior occasions in January.
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And financial records show the Gardner family had created a trust that says, “When our daughter, Shanna, shall have no further legal entanglements with her ex-husband, Jared g. Bridegan, she may elect to serve as trustee.” This means she would control the money.
That night, a tire had been left in the middle of the road, and when he moved it out of the way, he was gunned down. His then two-year old daughter, Bexley, was also in the car.
The court documents reveal Bexley told police, “a man came up to the car, she heard ‘boom, boom, boom, and ‘daddy hit the ground.’”
“I wanted to try and resuscitate them or something but I could tell there’s nothing I could do,” Witness Shane Borja said.
Borja found Jared lying on the ground and says that memory still haunts him today.
“I was worried,” Borja said. “I felt bad for the guy… Like for someone else to take someone else’s life away. Oh, I think we need to cherish each other’s lives and value it value it more than you know, greed or money or jealousy or any you know, it’s inhumane.”
He and his girlfriend helped Jared’s little Bexley while they waited for detectives to arrive and investigate.
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