Police body camera footage shows the ex-wife of Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan being arrested in Washington state in connection with his 2022 murder.
Armed agents with the ATF Washington Field Division took Shanna Gardner-Fernandez into custody at her West Richland, Washington, home on Aug. 17 in front of her tearful mother and twin children, who were not seen in footage but can be heard.
“Where are your jeans, mom?” one asks as she sits on a chair in handcuffs, shorts and a T-shirt on the porch.
Later, she is seen in the video being escorted out of the home while handcuffed in jeans.
As she’s being escorted to a police car, she is heard saying, “I love you, honey.”
Just before her arrest, she was indicted by a Duval County grand jury. She was arrested on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony, and child abuse, prosecutors said.
Her defense attorney Henry M. Coxe, III declined to comment.
Two co-defendants, Henry Tenon and Mario Fernandez Saldana — Gardner’s current husband — were arrested in the case earlier this year, prosecutors said in a news release.
Tenon was a tenant of Fernandez Saldana’s. Tenon pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree with a weapon. He admitted to being the gunman and agreed to testify against those he had worked with to kill Bridegan, officials said.
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Bridegan was shot while driving home after dropping off his 9-year-old twin children, whom he shared with Gardner, at the home she shared with Fernandez-Saldana.
His body was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the road along Sanctuary Boulevard in Jacksonville Beach shortly before 8 p.m. on Feb. 16, 2022.
He had stopped along that dark stretch of road that night when he encountered a tire in the middle of the street. When he got out of his SUV to remove the tire, he was shot several times in front of his 2-year-old, who was still strapped to a car seat in the back seat.
“This investigation has uncovered the truth of Jared’s murder,” said State Attorney Melissa Nelson in a statement. “Henry Tenon did not act alone. Mario Fernandez did not plan alone. And Shanna Gardner’s indictment acknowledges her central and key role in the cold, calculated, and premeditated murder of Jared Bridegan.”
Gardner has denied any wrongdoing in the murder. A company owned by Garnder’s parents has said that she and Fernandez Saldana separated.
The suspects face a count of child abuse because the shooting put Bridegan’s daughter in danger.
“Bullets struck the interior of the vehicle, in close proximity to where the child was strapped into her car, an act that reasonably could have been expected to cause physical or mental injury to her,” an affidavit stated. “Witnesses advised that the child was crying when they arrived on scene.”
Fernandez Saldana is scheduled for a hearing on Sept. 12. A judge has yet to sentence Tenon. He is scheduled for a status hearing on Oct. 9.
Alberto Luperon contributed to this report.
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