The victim survived 19 gunshot wounds, while the couple’s 3-year-old daughter witnessed the December 2024 attack, prosecutors said.

LANCASTER, Pa. — A Pennsylvania man who admitted repeatedly shooting the mother of his young daughter during a child custody dispute has been sentenced to 13 1/2 to 40 years in state prison, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office.

Lancaster County Judge Merrill Spahn imposed the sentence after Ezekiel Daniel Sanderful, 33, pleaded guilty June 10 to attempted murder, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children. Prosecutors said Sanderful drew the woman to his East Cocalico Township home by telling her she could retrieve their 3-year-old daughter, then opened fire outside the residence. The child stood close to him and watched as her mother was shot, authorities said. The woman survived but was left with lasting injuries that have changed her daily life and her ability to care for her family.

The sentence closed the trial phase of a case that began on the night of Dec. 9, 2024, in the first block of Reinholds Road. East Cocalico Township police said officers were dispatched at about 8:10 p.m. for a reported shooting. They found the then-32-year-old victim lying in the street with gunshot wounds to her head, torso and legs. Officers gave her emergency aid before she was taken to a hospital. Police initially described her as hospitalized in stable condition, although the full extent of her injuries became clearer as the criminal case moved forward.

Prosecutors said Sanderful had arranged for the woman to come to the home under the pretense that she was picking up their daughter. When she arrived, he produced a semiautomatic handgun and fired multiple rounds during what the district attorney’s office described as an argument over custody. After the woman fell, Sanderful stopped to reload and fired again, prosecutors said. The district attorney’s office reported that she suffered 19 gunshot wounds, numerous broken bones, permanent blindness in one eye and a loss of motor function in one arm.

The couple’s daughter was within arm’s reach of Sanderful when he fired, according to the prosecution’s account. Authorities said the girl later told police that she had seen her mother being shot in the face. She was not physically injured, but her mother said at the sentencing hearing that the child has experienced nightmares connected to what she witnessed. The endangering charge addressed the child’s presence during the attack, while the attempted murder and aggravated assault counts addressed the violence against her mother.

When police arrived, Sanderful went back inside his residence, the police department said in its original account of the arrest. Officers remained at the scene until he surrendered and was taken into custody without further incident. Investigators later recovered the pistol used in the shooting from inside the home, prosecutors said. Sanderful was held in Lancaster County Prison following his arrest, initially facing attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children before resolving the case through his guilty pleas.

The victim, identified in published accounts as Stacy Rodriguez, appeared at sentencing surrounded by relatives. At times fighting through tears, she described pleading for her life and hearing Sanderful reload as she lay wounded. “You tried to violently execute me,” she told him, according to the district attorney’s office. Her statement placed the court’s attention not only on the number of shots fired but also on the interruption between volleys, which prosecutors presented as evidence of the sustained nature of the attack.

Assistant District Attorney Jessica Collo told the court it was “truly a miracle” that Rodriguez survived her injuries and was able to attend the hearing. Spahn made a similar observation before announcing the sentence, telling Sanderful that “but for the grace of emergency medicine and the grace of God,” he would have faced the possibility of life in prison on a first-degree murder charge. Because Rodriguez survived, the case proceeded as an attempted murder prosecution rather than a homicide case.

Rodriguez told the court that survival did not mean a return to the life she had before the shooting. She can no longer see through her right eye, has permanent pain and has lost movement in one arm, according to the district attorney’s summary of her statement. She said that limitation has kept her from doing ordinary tasks for her daughter, including combing the girl’s hair. The injuries also affected a household that included other children, according to a fundraising page created for Rodriguez after the shooting.

Her statement also described progress made during her recovery. Rodriguez said she had recently obtained her driver’s license and earned a promotion at work. She told the court she intended to raise her daughter without Sanderful and provide the child with a better future. Those accomplishments were presented alongside the physical and emotional consequences of the shooting, showing that her recovery has included both permanent losses and efforts to regain independence.

Sanderful apologized before he was sentenced. He said he hoped to make amends one day and wanted “to show other men that this isn’t the way,” according to prosecutors. The district attorney’s public account did not provide a longer explanation from Sanderful about his actions. His guilty pleas, however, removed the need for prosecutors to prove the charges at a jury trial and amounted to his formal admission to the three offenses for which Spahn sentenced him.

The prison term establishes a minimum period of 13 1/2 years before Sanderful can become eligible for parole consideration, but it does not guarantee release at that point. The maximum term is 40 years. Pennsylvania’s parole authorities will determine whether he may be released after completing the minimum sentence, subject to the state’s procedures and his status in prison. The district attorney’s office did not announce any separate pending criminal counts connected to the shooting.

Spahn also ordered Sanderful to pay more than $2,000 in restitution. He may not contact Rodriguez or their daughter, and he is barred from possessing a firearm in the future, according to prosecutors. East Cocalico Township Police Detective Brandon Van Ausdal filed the charges. With the guilty pleas entered and sentence imposed, the principal criminal case has concluded, while Rodriguez and her daughter continue to live with the lasting effects described in court.

Author note: Last updated July 15, 2026.