Security guard arrested in fatal shooting at Sacramento marijuana dispensary
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- Homicide detectives arrested marijuana dispensary security guard Joseph Lawrence Mills.
- Mills faces a charge of voluntary manslaughter in a deadly shooting at the dispensary.
- Police said Mills shot two burglary suspects, killing one of them.
Homicide detectives on Tuesday arrested a security guard on a suspicion of voluntary manslaughter after he allegedly shot two suspects, killing one of them, during a burglary earlier this month at a Sacramento marijuana dispensary.
Joseph Lawrence Mills, 55, of Sacramento was booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail.
The deadly shooting occurred May 8 at the marijuana dispensary in the 8500 block of Thys Court in the Florin Fruitridge Industrial Park, just east of Florin Perkins Road.
About 4:30 a.m., officers initially responded to a report of a burglary in progress at the marijuana dispensary on Thys Court, Sacramento Police Department spokesperson Officer Anthony Gamble has said. Additional calls to police reported the shooting.
Officers arrived at the marijuana dispensary and found a wounded man, later identified as Kato Lamarzae Mills, who was reportedly a suspect in the burglary, police said. He suffered at least one gunshot wound. Police said medics pronounced him dead at the scene.
On Wednesday, Sacramento County Coroner Rosa Vega confirmed Kato Lamarzae Mills, 22, of Oakland, was the man who was fatally shot May 8 at the Thys Court business.
Officer Allison Smith, a police spokesperson, confirmed Wednesday that there is no relation between the arrested security guard and the man fatally shot, who both have the same last name.
As officers were investigating the deadly shooting, another man believed to be the other suspect in the dispensary burglary arrived at a hospital with at least one gunshot wound and was reported to be in stable condition, according to the Police Department.
Police said Mills, who was working as a security guard for the marijuana dispensary, is believed to have shot the two burglary suspects. The security guard remained at the shooting scene and was detained by officers.
The homicide detectives took over the shooting investigation and later obtained an arrest warrant for the security guard on the voluntary manslaughter charge. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office filed a criminal complaint in the homicide case against Joseph Mills last Friday, four days before detectives arrested the security guard.
Along with the voluntary manslaughter charge, Mills faces two additional felonies on charges of firing a gun at an inhabited building and illegal possession of an assault weapon, jail records show.
Sacramento Superior Court records show Joseph Mills is scheduled to appear Thursday afternoon for his arraignment hearing. He remained in jail custody Wednesday with his bail amount set at $150,000.
This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 1:27 PM.
