Left: Jamica Mills (Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office). Right: Ariel Spillner (GoFundMe).
In Wisconsin, a 32-year-old woman faces charges after allegedly killing her friend, claiming paranoia induced by marijuana led her to believe the 26-year-old was about to attack her.
Jamica Mills was arrested on Saturday and is now charged with first-degree reckless homicide, along with an enhancement for using a dangerous weapon in the death of Ariel Spillner, according to court documents.
Law enforcement officers from the Milwaukee Police Department responded to a reported shooting at around 9:43 p.m. on November 4 at an apartment complex located in the 5100 block of 39th Street. Upon arrival, they found two women inside a lower-level unit, identified as Mills and Spillner.
Mills was found conscious on her back, showing signs of a gunshot wound to her abdomen. Spillner was discovered unresponsive, lying face down on the sectional couch, having sustained a gunshot wound to her left shoulder.
Milwaukee Fire Department emergency medical personnel arrived shortly after and declared Spillner deceased at approximately 9:52 p.m., as detailed in the affidavit. Spillner was a pharmacy student at Concordia University.
The police report noted that Mills was combative at the scene and continued to resist and be uncooperative with hospital staff after being taken to Froedtert Hospital for her gunshot wound treatment.
A .38-caliber Ruger handgun and two spent shell casings were recovered from inside of the apartment near Mills’s body. A t-shirt with a bullet hole in the front abdomen area was also found, with police noting that the hole in the shirt was burnt and black around the outside, which is indicative of a close-range shot.
A witness who was in the apartment at the time of the shooting told investigators she was in her own bedroom with Mills’s child when she heard Mills or Spillner say, “b—, you tripping,” followed by two gunshots.
In a hospital interview with police, Mills initially claimed she “could not remember what happened to her.”
“She continued to tell detectives she did not remember what happened and woke up in the living room then the next thing she remembers was being at the hospital,” the affidavit said. “The Defendant identified Spillner as her friend that she has known approximately one year.”
After being shown a photo of the shirt with the bullet hole in the abdomen, Mills allegedly confirmed she had been wearing the shirt that evening before claiming “she thought Spillner shot her first.”
“She stated they were hanging out at the residence and talking about Spillner’s boyfriend and then she heard a shot and felt shot,” the affidavit says. “She could not provide an answer as to how or who shot Spillner.”
When the detectives indicated they did not believe her story, Mills allegedly admitted to shooting Spillner. From the affidavit:
“The Defendant was then asked for the truth and stated that she and Spillner went to the store around 9 p.m., then returned to the house and smoked weed together and both became paranoid from smoking. The Defendant mentioned that Spillner was supposed to cut her dog’s hair with scissors, and the Defendant became paranoid that Spillner would stab her. She explained that she went into her bedroom and retrieved her firearm off her bed and went back to the living room. The Defendant said Spillner made a hand motion and then the Defendant shot Spillner one time, causing Spillner to fall to the ground between the couch and ottoman, face down. The Defendant stated she did not observe the scissors and Spillner did not make any threats to stab the Defendant.”
Mills said she then started walking toward the front door when she “accidentally shot herself in the stomach,” adding that she “did not know how she shot herself.”
According to police, Mills said she did not mean to kill Spillner, but “understood firearms can kill people.”
An autopsy determined that Spillner’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the upper-left chest area. A GoFundMe for Spillner can be found here.
A judge ordered Mills to remain in detention on a bond of $150,000, records show. She is currently scheduled to appear for her preliminary hearing on Nov. 17.
