An armed guest was arrested after shooting up a hotel room at the Brownwood Hotel & Spa in The Villages.
Wildwood police were dispatched early Tuesday morning to the new hotel located on State Road 44, where 54-year-old Gerald Wayne Mills Jr. of Ocala had barricaded himself in Room 301.
When police officers knocked on the door, Mills demanded they slip their identification under the door. The officers held identification up to the peep hole on the door, but Mills refused to let them in. He “loudly” ordered police to “back up” and then fired two shots through the door. The bullets nearly struck the officers and an employee of the hotel. Mills then fired three shots through the window of his room and used a hotel chair to finish breaking out the glass. He jumped out the window and landed on the second floor roof. He tossed his weapon onto the ground floor courtyard and turned himself into police.
A six-pack of beer was found in the hotel room and he admitted he had been drinking. Mills had been arrested earlier this year on a drunk driving charge. He was also arrested in 2018 at the Burger King on State Road 44 in Wildwood.
Mills is facing multiple charges of aggravated assault, assault on a law enforcement officer, use of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol and criminal mischief. He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center where bond was originally set at $49,000. After a first appearance in Sumter County Court, a judge changed Mills’ status to no bond.