Norwich -- A city man charged by police with attempted murder in connection with a New Year's Day shooting is accused of pistol-whipping the mother of his two young children while they were in the car, then shooting a man on Asylum Street.

The female victim told police that Carlos Velazquez-Perez, 23, of 60 Boswell Ave. drove off after the shooting, saying "Oh my God, what did I just do? My kids are in the car," according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Velazquez-Perez was motivated by jealousy, because he thought the woman, who had broken up with him the day after Christmas, was having an affair with the man he shot at, according to the affidavit.

Velazquez-Perez pleaded not guilty when he appeared Monday in the New London court where major crimes are heard. He was charged Friday with attempted murder, first-degree assault, two counts of risk of injury to a minor, criminal use of a firearm and unlawful discharge of a firearm.

Judge Hillary B. Strackbein kept his bond at $150,000 and continued the case to Friday after he notified the court his family is attempting to hire a private attorney. He is being held at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.

Police had arrested Velazquez-Perez on Jan. 4 in connection with the girlfriend's assault and continued their investigation, according to the affidavit.

When he dropped the woman off at her mother's home, she was bleeding from the face and head while holding both of the children and crying for help, according to the mother.

Meanwhile, the shooting victim, identified only as a 22-year-old man, was treated and released from the hospital for two gunshot wounds in the area of his left nipple, according to the warrant. One was an entry wound and the other an exit wound, and medical personnel confirmed there were no projectiles or particles in the victim's chest.

The victim said Velazquez-Perez, known as "Flaco," had asked him earlier to pick up Flaco's mother, who worked at the Mystic Marriott in Groton, and drive her to her Norwich home. When he dropped off the mother, the victim said Velazquez-Perez came outside, got into his car and they smoked marijuana. He said Velazquez-Perez gave him $20 to buy cigarettes and that while he was buying them, called to accuse him of sleeping with his girlfriend.

Both the girlfriend and the shooting victim said they did not know one another.

The shooting victim said Velazquez-Perez directed him to a driveway at Asylum and Pearl streets to drop off the cigarettes. He said Velazquez-Perez pulled up beside his car and spoke to him through the open driver's side window. He said Velazquez-Perez got even more angry and pulled out a gun and waved it at him. He said "Flaco" shot him in the chest and drove off, and that he jumped out of the car to call 911. A person who witnessed the shooting got into the car and drove him to the hospital.

The girlfriend told police she was afraid of Velazquez-Perez, who was jealous and controlling, and fled with the children to a relative's home in Dracut, Mass. The relative later told police that Velazquez-Perez threatened her family by telephone on Jan. 3.

k.florin@theday.com