Alleged burglar killed as accomplices get away, but security guard is charged with manslaughter

A 55-year-old Sacramento military veteran who worked as a security guard was arraigned on May 21st for killing an alleged burglar and injuring another from a group of up to nine persons in a brazen middle-of-the-night burglary.

On May 8^th at around 4:30 am, a cannabis growing warehouse located on the 8500 block of Thys Court in Sacramento was broken-into by several masked and hooded burglars arriving in two cars.

Security camera footage shows three alleged burglars tossing garbage bags full of cannabis plants over an iron fence as others load the bags into the trunk of a car. Another car pulls up as more bags of freshly cut plants fly over the fence.

In one piece of camera footage, hooded figures climb up onto an air-conditioning unit to haphazardly toss open bags over the fence. Others catch the bags as plants fall onto the ground. In other footage, two men stand on the air-conditioner holding unbagged cannabis plants and waiting for a second car to pull in as the first one drives away.

During the break-in, a live-in 24/7 security guard named Joseph Lawrence Mills says he was confronted by two men in a darkened warehouse hallway.

Fearing for his life, he fired his weapon at them. One shot hit a 22-year-old Oakland resident and burglary suspect Kato Lamarzae Mills, who is not related to the guard Joseph Mills.

Kato Mills was found on site when police officers answered 911 calls about a burglary and a shooting. According to the May 20^th Sacramento Police Department (SPD) statement, fire department personnel pronounced Kato Mills deceased after attempting to revive him at the scene.

Shortly after, “an additional adult male burglary suspect arrived at an area hospital with at least one gunshot wound and was reported to be in stable condition,” read the SPD statement which was originally posted on Facebook. This second suspect has yet to be named.

In such cases where law enforcement thinks a hospital patient may also be a crime suspect, they put a 24/7 security watch on that person. As of this publication date, the SPD has not yet released updated information on the injured suspect, and hospitals are not allowed to report information on patients.

News & Review asked the Sacramento District Attorney’s office for an update on the hospitalized suspect, but Spokesperson Shelly Orio replied, “We are not able to discuss matters involving a pending case.”

While no burglary suspects have been arrested, on May 19^th the security guard Joseph Mills was arrested for voluntary manslaughter, firing a weapon inside an inhabited building, and a third charge relating to the type of weapon used.

Joseph Mills is being represented by Sacramento Attorney Allen Sawyer, who told News & Review his client was released without posting bail, but “could very likely end up going to trial. We want to sit down and talk with the District Attorney’s office, let them know more about our point of view that they may not been aware of when they originally charged the case,” said Sawyer.

“Mr. Mills thought it was the same group that robbed [the facility] three months earlier with weapons.” Sawyer said, adding that there is a police report about that previous incident where gunfire was exchanged between his client and a group of burglars under similar conditions.

The warehouse, located on Thys Court near the Army Depot, is a legal, secured, licensed cannabis indoor grow operation, considered medium sized with a 22,000 square feet canopy. The neighborhood is zoned heavy industrial, meaning that very few people are around late at night when businesses are closed. Sawyer explained that such legal grow facilities are ironically less safe and secure than illicit cannabis cultivation sites because the unregulated growers “don’t disclose publicly where they’re cultivating at.”

Sawyer said security footage will show that two cars full of hooded persons in ski masks drove by three separate times, the first being around 3:00 am. “They were casing the outside and looking for a way to break in,” Sawyer said. Law enforcement was called but did not arrive soon enough.

At around 4:30 am Sawyer said the group returned to the facility, this time to break in. “There were nine of them that were all over different parts of the area, and that’s when the shooting starts,” he said.

“After that occurred, they come back five to ten minutes later again and attempted to get into the facility,” said Sawyer. “That was the third attempt, then the police eventually came.”

Joseph Mills, who is a veteran with no criminal record, cooperated with law enforcement and had already unloaded his weapon by the time police arrived.

Sacramento Defense attorney Mark Reichel, who represents cannabis businesses, said that Joseph Mills has a legitimate claim of self-defense, according to a Sacramento Bee article reposted on AOL News. “That’s obviously not a crime,” Reichel stated. “If the guard honestly felt it was necessary to shoot, and that feeling was ‘reasonable’ under the circumstances, that’s self-defense.”

Between 30 and 40 mature-looking plants were stolen, according to Sawyer, who thinks these men could be connected to an Oakland group responsible for a string of recent Bay Area dispensary and grow facility burglaries.

Last December a federal grand jury indicted nine people in connection with repeated armed burglaries of an Oakland grow facility. Those incidents “led to the 2023 killing of an Oakland police officer,” according to NBC News Bay Area. Officer Tuan Le was responding to an early morning break-in at a cannabis business when he was fatally shot by the burglars.

Joseph Mills’ next court appearance will be in August. Meanwhile, no suspects involved in this burglary have been arrested.