NASHUA – Two Nashua men charged in a shooting during a botched drug deal pleaded guilty this week and were sentenced to several years in state prison.

Alexandre Amado, 21, formerly of 15 Kessler Farm Drive, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and armed robbery and will spend five to 10 years in prison after admitting to accidentally shooting Danny Vorn in the head on Jan. 9 on Rochette Avenue while trying to rob him of 5 pounds of marijuana.

Anthony Farmer, also 21, formerly of 5 Hartford Lane, pleaded guilty to his role in the robbery and will spend three to six years in prison, according to Hillsborough County Attorney Patricia LaFrance.

Both men were in court this week and admitted they set up the drug buy with the intent to rob Vorn.

Amado told police he pointed a handgun given to him by Farmer at Vorn and that it discharged when Vorn flinched. Amado was unfamiliar with firearms and said the shot was accidental. First responders found Vorn drifting in and out of consciousness in the street in front of a home on Rochette Avenue. He had been shot in the back of the head and was rushed by helicopter to Boston Medical Center in critical condition, police said.

LaFrance said Nashua police dedicated virtually all of the department’s resources to tracking down the two suspects described by witnesses. Amado and Farmer were arrested the next day.

Police also later executed search warrants based on witness interviews and several anonymous tips and found several cell phones. An examination of those phones placed Amado and Farmer at the scene at the time of the shooting, she said.

The shooting rattled the normally quiet residential neighborhood located off Chestnut Street. Janice Holland and Jean Russell, who live in a 55-plus condo building nearby said they noticed the commotion caused by police and rescue vehicles Thursday night, but didn’t know what caused it until reading The Telegraph’s website later that night.

Amado also had a five-year suspended sentence tacked onto his five-to-10-years prison term to be served after his release. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of sale of marijuana and falsifying evidence, LaFrance said.

Farmer’s trial was scheduled to begin Monday with jury selection. Instead he pleaded guilty as part of a negotiated plea agreement to armed robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. In addition to his three to six year sentence he received a 5– to 10–year suspended sentence, LaFrance said.

Assistant Hillsborough County Attorneys Catherine Devine and Kathleen Broderick prosecuted the case. It was investigated by Nashua police detectives Capt. Denis Linehan, Lt. Kevin Rourke, Sgts. Brian Kenney, Robert MacLeod and Joshua Albert, LaFrance said.

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashua
telegraph.com. Also, follow Cote on Twitter (@Telegraph_JoeC).