JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The man accused of pulling the trigger in the 2022 killing of a St. Johns County father wants to withdraw his guilty plea, according to a motion filed Friday.
Henry Tenon has informed his counsel “that he will not testify against Shanna Lee Gardner or Mario Enrique Fernandez Saldana,” the motion said.
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All three are accused in a murder-for-hire plot to kill Jared Bridegan, who was Gardner’s ex-husband. Fernandez Saldana is Gardner’s estranged husband.
Tenon originally pleaded guilty on March 16, 2023 in the murder of Bridegan, the motion states. In exchange for testifying against Gardner and Fernandez Saldana, the state was going to drop the other charges he was facing and he would face at least 15 years in prison.
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Tenon asked the court to permit him “to withdraw his previously entered plea of guilt and set his case for trial.”
Currently, Gardner and and Fernandez Saldana’s trials are set to begin on Aug. 10.
A hearing on Tenon’s motion will be set on Tuesday.
‘Gunned down in cold blood’
Bridegan was gunned down Feb. 16, 2022, in Jacksonville Beach. He had just taken his twins he shared with ex-wife Gardner, and his then-2-year-old daughter he had with wife Kirsten Bridegan, to dinner.
The software engineer had just dropped off the twins at Gardner’s house when he encountered a tire on Sanctuary Boulevard, a one-way road. He was headed home to his second wife, Kirsten Bridegan, and their youngest child.
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Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Paul Smith said during the announcement of the first arrest in January 2023, that “the tire was purposely placed there to make him stop, which he did.”
“Tragically, he began to exit his vehicle to move the tire and he was gunned down in cold blood,” Smith said.
Bridegan was shot several times while his daughter was still strapped into a car seat in the back seat of Bridegan’s car.
The arrests
Fernandez Saldana, Gardner’s estranged husband, was arrested in March 2023 on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, child abuse, and solicitation to commit a capital felony.
The arrest of Tenon in connection with Bridegan’s murder was announced in January 2023. He was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, accessory after the fact to a capital felony, child abuse, and second-degree murder
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Gardner was arrested in August 2023 in Washington and is facing charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder, and child abuse.
Bridegan’s widow Kirsten filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tenon, Gardner, and Fernandez Saldana in February 2025. A motion to stay that case until the criminal charges are resolved was granted in July.
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