A Florida jury has convicted Mario Fernandez Saldana of first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony over the 2022 killing of Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan. The verdict is significant because prosecutors said the shooting was a planned ambush linked to a bitter custody dispute involving Bridegan’s former wife, Shanna Gardner, and her husband, Fernandez Saldana.

Bridegan, 33, was shot at close range in Jacksonville Beach in February 2022 after stopping to remove a tyre placed on a dark road. His two-year-old daughter was in the car but unharmed; prosecutors allege Fernandez Saldana and Gardner arranged for Henry Tenon to carry out the killing, while Gardner faces separate proceedings on the same charges.