Connecticut Man Accused in Shooting of Pregnant Girlfriend, Claims It Was Accident

COVENTRY, Conn. – A man accused of shooting his pregnant girlfriend in front of their two children told police the gun went off accidentally during an argument, according to a police report released Tuesday.

Police responded to the Bidwell Tavern parking lot in Coventry on Monday afternoon on a report of a blood-spattered man threatening to kill himself while holding his 2-year-old son. Police said the man, Alfredo Ferrer, put the gun in his mouth at one point.

Authorities said Ferrer, 43, told them during a standoff that he shot his girlfriend at their apartment near the restaurant. Officers said they eventually subdued him with a stun gun, and the child was taken to a hospital but appeared unharmed.

Amanda Realie, 27, was in critical condition Tuesday at Hartford Hospital, authorities said.

Ferrer told investigators he and Realie were fighting about her alleged drug use and his history as a sex offender, the report states. He said he got so angry that he believed "the devil is in me" and tried to hit her with his .38-caliber revolver, but she swung at the gun and it went off, according to the report.

Ferrer sobbed but said nothing Tuesday as he was arraigned in Rockville Superior Court. He is charged with attempted murder, assault, assault of a pregnant person, risk of injury to minors, reckless endangerment and several firearms charges.

He did not enter a plea and is to return to court April 25. His public defender declined comment.

Judge Carl Schuman ordered him held on $1.25 million bond, citing his criminal record.

Court officials said Ferrer was convicted in the 1980s of sexually assaulting a minor, then escaped from prison in 1991 and remained a fugitive until he was arrested for marijuana possession in New York in 2002.

Witnesses said the ordeal at the tavern began when a bloody Ferrer showed up just before 6 p.m. and tried to use the phone. Frightened patrons were herded into a basement and the doors were locked once Ferrer left.

Court officials said Ferrer had worked as a dishwasher at the tavern for several years. Employees there declined comment Tuesday.

Coventry is a small town about 20 miles east of Hartford, not far from the main University of Connecticut campus.