The phrase "attempt to shoot a" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts discussing an effort to fire a weapon or metaphorically in various scenarios.
Example: "The police reported an attempt to shoot a suspect during the chase."
Alternatives: "effort to fire a" or "try to shoot a".
Last winter, a 15-year-old boy was treated at the burn center after trying to film an attempt to shoot a basket with a flaming basketball.
The genesis of the policy is unclear – it looked like an attempt to shoot a Labour fox, conceived from short-termist political instincts.
Another day, another attempt to shoot a crowdfunded pornographic film in space for three million dollars.
You can't even look at the shotgun paintings without thinking of the most notorious episode in Burroughs' biography, the 1949 killing of his wife, Joan Vollmer, in a Mexico City hotel room, when the writer failed in his attempt to shoot a six-ounce water glass off the top of her head.
Don't throw rocks at, or attempt to shoot a mine or UXO.
Mr Cruz previously attempted to shoot a heartfelt advert showing him in a family environment, with various members of his immediate and extended family singing his praises.
A one-hour taped show, which NBC will broadcast June 15 as a lead-in to the final round of the 2008 United States Open, will feature a foursome of amateur golfers with varying handicaps, all attempting to shoot a score lower than 100 on the Open setup at Torrey Pines Golf Course.
Lépine continued into the second-floor corridor and wounded three students before entering another room where he twice attempted to shoot a female student.
The other was a woman reportedly killed by an errant bullet fired by an officer who slipped while attempting to shoot a dog that had jumped on him.
In a story transcribed by John Campbell of Kilberry, a hunter attempted to shoot a boobrie after he spotted it in its bird-like manifestation on a sea loch one chilly February day.
An gun-wielding assailant attempted to shoot a prominent Turkish journalist outside an Istanbul courthouse on Friday, just before the verdict in his trial on charges of revealing state secrets was due to be announced.
