A man arrested after shooting up a hotel room at the Brownwood Hotel & Spa in The Villages has entered a plea in court in the case.
Gerald Wayne Mills Jr., 54, continues to be held without bond at the Sumter County Detention Center following his arrest Sept. 8 at the hotel. Mills on Wednesday in Sumter County Court pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges. He is being represented by the public defender’s office.
Wildwood police were dispatched to the new hotel located on State Road 44 after Mills 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.
