Victim recounts surviving attack as judge cites ‘grace of God’ in sentencing
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA – A Pennsylvania man who admitted to shooting the mother of his child multiple times during a custody dispute was sentenced to decades in prison as the victim described the attack in court that nearly took her life. The case unfolded in East Cocalico Township, where prosecutors said the violence occurred in front of the couple’s young child.
Ezekiel Sanderful, 33, was sentenced by Lancaster County Judge Merrill Spahn to 13 1/2 to 40 years in state prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder, aggravated assault, and endangering the welfare of children. According to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, Sanderful admitted “to shooting a woman multiple times during an argument over custody of their child.”
Victim recounts shooting and lasting injuries
“You tried to violently execute me,” Stacy Rodriguez told Sanderful during the sentencing hearing, describing the moment she was shot as she fought through tears. She said she was “crying in agony and pleading for my life” during the attack.
Prosecutors said the shooting happened on Dec. 9, 2024, around 8 p.m. at Sanderful’s home on Reinholds Road. Authorities said he “lured” Rodriguez to the home under the pretense of picking up their 3-year-old daughter. When she arrived, he pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots.
The child “was within arm’s reach of Sanderful when he fired the shots and witnessed her mother being shot in the face, she later told police,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Rodriguez suffered extensive injuries after being shot multiple times in the head, torso, and legs. Prosecutors said she sustained numerous broken bones, permanent loss of vision in one eye, and loss of motor function in one arm. She later told the court she has “been unable to comb her daughter’s hair, can no longer see out of her right eye and suffers permanent pain from the 19 bullet wounds she endured.”
Emergency response and arrest
Responding officers found Rodriguez “lying in the street” with multiple gunshot wounds. She was treated at the scene before being transported to a hospital. Authorities said Sanderful retreated into his home before he “eventually surrendered” to police. The child was not physically injured.
During sentencing, prosecutors described Rodriguez’s survival as a “miracle.” Judge Spahn told Sanderful that “but for the grace of emergency medicine and the grace of God,” he would have faced a life sentence for first-degree murder.
The long-term impact of the shooting extended to the couple’s daughter, who now suffers from nightmares after witnessing the violence and will grow up without her father.
Before sentencing, Sanderful apologized and said he hopes to make amends and “to show other men that this isn’t the way,” according to prosecutors.
Rodriguez told the court she has begun rebuilding her life, recently obtaining her driver’s license and receiving a job promotion, while committing to raising her daughter without Sanderful.
A fundraiser created after the shooting noted Rodriguez is also the mother of four other children.
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