Tony Orland Mills

Deadly force

Police responded to I-5 at Exit 45A following reports of a suicidal man armed with a handgun. While enroute to the scene, police said they called in medical personnel to stage in the area. The first trooper arrived at 8:45 p.m. Officers said they found Tony Orland Mills on Rogue River Highway, underneath the I-5 overpass, armed with a handgun. At 8:59 p.m., the man was shot and killed. "Mills reportedly told police he was not dropping his gun, then raised his right hand and shot himself in the head. Lacer, an 11-year OSP veteran, testified that he believed Mills was firing in the direction of police when he fired a single round from his duty rifle that hit Mills in the arm and pectoral area. The Jackson County Medical Examiner ruled Mills' cause of death a suicide, determining that the self-inflicted injury -- a near-contact gunshot in the right temporal region of his head -- was fatal. The shot that pierced Mills' arm would not have been fatal."