A man who tried to shoot the mother of his children but was thwarted because he could not get his gun off safety will serve eight years in prison.

The man, Rodrigo G. Rodriguez, 23, entered guilty pleas before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to charges of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault. He was ordered to serve eight years at 100 percent, meaning he will not be eligible for parole.

“He made statements that he intended to kill her,” said McMinnville Police Sgt. Kenneth Seagraves in warrants against the defendant.

Rodriguez was reportedly holding the gun on his girlfriend when police burst through the bathroom door at their Stroud Street home last summer where they had been dispatched for a domestic dispute.

“The door was pushed open and he was behind the door with the gun in his right hand,” Seagraves recalled, noting he and officer Mike Starkey subdued the armed man.

The incident began as the victim was trying to visit her mother. The woman said he pulled a handgun and told her to get in the car. When she ran into the house, he followed her and busted through the bathroom door where she had taken refuge.

“He held the loaded gun up to her forehead and pushed her into the bathtub,” Seagraves said.

Police learned that was not the first time he had tried to kill his girlfriend. According to the victim, he had choked her unconscious two weeks prior, but she had not reported the incident to law enforcement.

Her condition was such that Rodriguez reportedly tried to clean up the crime scene, thinking he had killed her.

“He believed he had, in fact, killed her but she began breathing again," said Seagraves.

Rodriguez followed that by holding her hostage the next day.

“He tied her up with an apron and left her in a closet in her grandmother’s residence,” the officer revealed. “There was no one else in the residence to help her and she was left tied up.”