Florida widow begs for information after Microsoft manager husband shot dead: ‘I still have hope’

Jared Bridegan was shot dead within sight of his two-year-old daughter

Kirsten Bridegan, 30, is asking for information after her husband Jared Bridegan, 33, was shot dead in Jacksonville Beach (Family photo / Facebook)

A Florida widow is asking the public for information after her husband, a Microsoft manager, was shot dead.

Jared Bridegan, 33, was killed in February when he was ambushed and shot in the couple’s North Florida suburb.

Now Kirsten Bridegan, 30, is looking for answers after her husband’s death which happened within sight of their two-year-old daughter.

Mr Bridegan was killed when he exited the family’s car to move a tire from the roadway on 16 February in the Sanctuary area of Jacksonville Beach.

The father had the couple’s two-year-old girl Bexley in the car at the time. Having just dropped off his nine-year-old twins Abby and Liam at the home of his ex-wife at around 7.30pm, Mr Bridegan was on his way home to his wife and seven-month-old child London.

Several gunshots can be heard on security camera recordings from neighbours’ homes shortly before 8pm, according to police. Following multiple calls to 911, police arrived at the scene.

Law enforcement said the attacker was around three or four feet away when they shot Mr Bridegan as he stood near the driver’s door of his black Volkswagen Atlas SUV.

Police have suggested that Mr Bridegan may have been a target and they previously released still images of a dark Ford F-150 truck they believe is possibly connected to the crime.

The Jacksonville Beach Police Department released images of a truck they believe could have been involved in the shooting (The Jacksonville Beach Police Department / Facebook)

The Jacksonville Beach Police Department is investigating if the tire was placed in the roadway to get Mr Bridegan to exit his vehicle.

No suspect or motive has so far been identified. Jacksonville Beach Police Detective Sergeant David Young told News 4 JAX that “there is a reason he was stopped there. There’s a reason there’s a tire in the middle of the road”.

“So we think in that aspect, we think he was targeted,” he added. “It was specific, [Mr Bridegan] used this route all the time. Whoever [killed him] knew the route.”

Mr Bridegan was working as a manager of user experience at Microsoft at the time. Before becoming a full-time mom, Ms Bridegan also worked at the company as an account manager. They got married in 2017.

Sgt Tonya Tator told DailyMail.com that “a murder of this nature is highly unusual” in Jacksonville Beach, adding that she can’t remember the last murder in the area.

“The fact that I don’t recall the timeframe is telling,” she said on Thursday. “Not that any of them are not important, but we don’t have cases like this on a regular basis.”

Ms Bridegan told Fox News that the killing was an example of “pure cowardice and evil”.

“To have that done where he didn’t even have a chance to fight back, and it was done in front of his daughter,” she said. “I would ask anyone who knows anything to come forward.”

“I still have hope that we’re gonna catch the people who did this, but it’s frustrating that it’s been two months and whoever did this is still out there doing whatever they want and we’re still here searching for answers,” she added to News 4 JAX.

“Somebody out there knows what happened or knows somebody that was involved in this, and we’re asking them to do the right thing,” Sgt Tator said.

“I stay up all night long thinking ‘Why? Was there any hint that this was coming?’ There is none,” Ms Bridegan told News 4 JAX.

She told Fox News that her two-year-old daughter who was in the car at the time of the killing “talks about the sound a lot. She says ‘I had to cover my ears’. When she talks about what happened she calls it ‘The boom.’ She says, ‘Boom! Boom! Boom! Daddy on the ground’”.

“She has some really hard days and some good days,” she told News 4. “She just has a lot of questions and some I can’t answer. She asked me where daddy is. She asked me why he isn’t here. And I just tell her daddy’s body did not get better.”

The Independent has reached out to Microsoft for comment.