Miami man gets 25 years after admitting he shot at FBI task force officers and cop
A Miami man accused of shooting at an unmarked vehicle occupied by two FBI task force officers and a Homestead cop has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
James Robert Mills Jr., 22, who was sentenced last week in Miami federal court, admitted that he opened fire at the unmarked white SUV while the three officers were on duty in late January in the Homestead area, according to a statement filed with his plea agreement in July.
A confidential source who witnessed the shooting told investigators that Mills fired at the SUV because the suspect thought it was being driven by a rival gang member, according to an FBI criminal complaint and affidavit.
On the evening of Jan. 31, Mills was sitting in the backseat of a parked car with the window down when he fired at the SUV as it drove north on Southwest 116th Avenue near 222nd Street, the affidavit says. After the SUV passed, the car Mills was in gave chase and he continued to shoot at the vehicle.
The three officers in the SUV were able to escape without being wounded by the hail of bullets. The officers did not fire their weapons, the affidavit says. Investigators found two bullet holes in the SUV and recovered 24 nine-millimeter bullet casings and one projectile.
With the help of the confidential source and Miami-Dade police, the FBI investigation zeroed in on Mills and an associate, the driver of the car involved in the shooting. After obtaining a federal search warrant, investigators went to the driver’s home. They recovered a Taurus .45 caliber gun and a loaded Glock 9mm pistol with an extended magazine. The Glock was found in the attic of the home where Mills stashed it after the shooting, the affidavit says.
The driver told investigators that he and Mills were present at the time of the shooting, saying that Mills “was armed with a firearm and that Mills fired his weapon,” according to the affidavit. The driver “admitted that he too was armed with a firearm, but he denied firing the weapon.”
