FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- An attorney representing the man accused of shooting a Broward sheriff's deputy in the head said he didn't intend to hit the lawman.

Broward Sheriff's Office Deputy Maury Hernandez was shot in the head during a traffic stop Monday in the 3700 block of Pembroke Road, moments after he notified dispatch at 11:48 a.m. that he was stopping a motorcyclist, later identified as David Maldonado, for running several red lights.

Sheriff Ken Jenne said that witnesses at a motorcycle shop reported Hernandez, 28, getting out of his unmarked vehicle and identifying himself as law enforcement in a "non-confrontational" manner before Maldonado pushed Hernandez, ran from the deputy, then turned and fired at him with a .45-caliber handgun. Hernandez was wearing plain clothes on his way to work as part of his undercover assignment with the selective enforcement team.

Jenne said BSO investigators found sheets of shooting targets in Maldonado's Miramar home with bullet holes clustered around the head of the targets.

"The walls of his home were decorated with targets from gun ranges," Jenne said. "Many of the targets had bullet holes concentrated in the head area. It was a very tight pattern."

Jenne also said "there's no question that Maldonado knew that he was dealing with a member of law enforcement."

"Witnesses heard Detective Hernandez identify himself, saw him display his star and, most telling, the suspect has told us that he knew he was dealing with a member of law enforcement," Jenne said.

Jenne described the 23-year-old as a skilled shooter, but Maldonado's attorney told Local 10's Roger Lohse that description is a "stretch."

"I think it's a lucky shot," said Dohn Williams, the attorney representing Maldonado. "To give you an analogy, it's like standing on the 50-yard line at Dolphin Stadium and shooting someone on the goal line. I think you have a better chance of hitting a hole in one on the golf course and winning the million-dollar prize than you do trying to make that shot intentionally."

Jenne said Maldonado fired two shots, one of them striking Hernandez from about 40 yards away.

Maldonado also told investigators that he has a baby on the way and didn't want to go to jail and miss his child's birth, prompting Maldonado to flee, Jenne said.

He was charged with attempted first-degree murder and violation of probation. He was being held without bond at the BSO's main jail in Fort Lauderdale.

BSO investigators said he bought the handgun from a friend recently for $200. Local 10 has learned that friend could be charged in connection with the shooting, in part because he sold the weapon to a convicted felon.

Hernandez, who has been with the BSO since 2002, remains in critical condition at Memorial Regional Hospital. He was shot on the right side of his head with a .45-caliber handgun and is now breathing on a mechanical ventilator, Jenne said.

"If recovery comes, it's going to be a long, long time," Jenne said.

Jenne said it was the sixth shooting of a deputy since he became sheriff in 1998.