SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — A 36-year-old Claremont man has been indicted on a charge stemming from an attempted robbery and shooting at the Holiday Inn Express in January.
Ira Flowers, a felon, allegedly was carrying a handgun on Jan. 6 when he and three others met in a Springfield hotel room to exchange thousands of dollars for THC-infused products, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
Felons can’t legally possess firearms, so a Vermont grand jury recently indicted him on a count of possessing a 9-mm pistol. Police arrested him on Monday, according to the release.
Flowers allegedly brandished the pistol during the drug transaction and attempted to rob the seller of the products, the news release states. A struggle ensued, and someone stabbed Flowers in the neck, shot him in the leg “with the pistol he unlawfully possessed” and left him bleeding in the hotel hallway, the release states.
Flowers appeared before a New Hampshire judge on Tuesday, and “consented to his detention” pending his arrival in a Vermont court, according to the release.
The incident prompted the hotel and Springfield Hospital to go into lockdown.