ROCKVILLE, 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 about her alleged drug use and his history as a sex offender, according to a police report.

Alfredo Ferrer told investigators he got so angry during the fight that he believed "the devil is in me" and tried to hit Amanda Realie with his .38-caliber revolver, according to the report released Tuesday. But he said Realie swung at the gun and it went off.

Police responded to the Bidwell Tavern parking lot in Coventry in the late afternoon on a report of a blood-spattered man threatening to kill himself while holding his 2-year-old son.

Police said 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.

Realie, 27, was flown by helicopter to Hartford Hospital, where she was listed in critical condition Tuesday.

Ferrer sobbed but said nothing Tuesday as he was arraigned on attempted murder and other charges in Rockville Superior Court. He did not enter a plea and is due 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.

Suspect's Criminal Past Detailed

Ferrer was first arrested in 1987 in New Britain for sale and possession of drugs, according to court documents.

In 1989, he was convicted of sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor and placed on the sex offender registry.

He was sentenced to 14 years in prison in connection with the sexual assault, but escaped from prison in 1991, according to court documents.

He remained a fugitive until he was arrested on charges of marijuana possession in New York in 2002.

Linda McMenimen told Eyewitness News that she lives below the Coventry apartment Ferrer and Realie shared.

"There was a lot of arguing going on upstairs, and I mean loud. I was afraid someone was going to get hurt, so I called the police and the police came, and then he came and knocked on my door and said, 'You better not be calling the cops on me again because I'm on parole," she said.

McMenimen said that Ferrar told her that he was on parole because he murdered someone.

"I didn't feel very comfortable, I stayed out of his way."

Witnesses said the ordeal at Bidwell 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 told Eyewitness News that they knew about Ferrer's criminal past, but didn't think he was capable of hurting anyone.

"It's pretty out of character for him actually. He's the dishwasher over at the Bidwell Tavern. Him and I worked together so we talk a lot," said Brett, a coworker of Ferrer's. Realie's friend and neighbor, Sarah Peck, told Eyewitness News that Realie said that she wanted to leave Ferrer.

Peck said that about half-an-hour before being shot, Realie had asked to use her phone. Peck said she was crying.

Peck said that she thought Ferrer was a good father, but that he may have snapped if he knew his girlfriend wanted to leave him.

Court Documents Detail Chain Of Events

According to the police report, Ferrer told investigators that he and Realie got into a fight about 4 p.m. over her use of heroin.

He said he then went to the Bidwell and asked his boss for the night off.

Ferrer said he went back to the apartment and became angry when Realie called him a sex offender. He said he went into his bedroom and smashed all of his religious statues.

"Look at what you made me do," Ferrer told Realie, according to the police report. "The devil is in me."

Ferrer then picked up their 2-year-old son and got a gun out of his bedroom, police said. He approached Realie and cocked the revolver's hammer and she tried to run out of the apartment, the report said.

Ferrer told police that he tried to hit Realie in the face with the weapon, but she swung at the gun and it fired into her face. He said Realie then dropped to the floor, falling face-first into a garbage bag next to the door.

Their older son, whose age was unknown, screamed after his mother was shot, Ferrer told police.

The situation drew police from Willimantic and the University of Connecticut as well as the state police SWAT team. Coventry is a small town about 20 miles east of Hartford, not far from the main UConn campus.

Ferrer is charged with attempted murder, assault, assault of a pregnant person, risk of injury to minors, reckless endangerment and several firearms charges, authorities said.

He is scheduled to appear in court again on April 25.