Myrtle Beach man shoots worker during hotel robbery. He’s now going to prison
A Myrtle Beach man who shot a man during a robbery of a hotel employee was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to his charges.
David Lee Mills, 40, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and armed robbery ahead of his trial that was set to happen this week, according to a release from the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office. He received 20 years for both charges. The sentences will run concurrently.
The charges stem from an incident on Jan. 30, 2025, when Horry County Police officers were called to the Sleep Inn hotel in the Myrtle Beach area for gunshots fired during an armed robbery, the release said. The victim of the robbery, who worked at the hotel, told police that Mills and a co-defendant had been staying at the hotel but were kicked out.
Mills and his co-defendant waited behind the hotel until the employee took her break. When she walked out the rear hotel door, Mills and the co-defendant walked up to her, pointed a gun and demanded her cash and cell phone, the release said. A male contractor walked out the back door of the hotel during the robbery, and tried to calm the situation, which allowed the employee to run back into the hotel.
Mills then fired a gunshot into the back door of the hotel at the employee while the contractor victim ran to his vehicle. Mills followed the man to his truck and shot a 9-mm round into the rear truck window, which struck the man in the shoulder.’
Mills and his co-defendant left the area and were captured in New York by the U.S. Marshals, the release said.
This story was originally published February 23, 2026 at 2:27 PM.
