Cops: Robber shot during own holdup

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Richard Wayne Mills was previously charged with aiding fugitive Sean Quinn.
By JOHN DAVIDSON jdavidson@leader.net
WILKES-BARRE – An ex-con who authorities accused of aiding fugitive Sean Thomas Quinn in November was shot in a botched robbery attempt Thursday evening on High Street, police said.

Police said Richard Wayne Mills, 47, was shot in the leg by a woman he tried to rob. Minutes later, he was arrested on charges of aggravated assault, terroristic threats, robbery and other charges.

According to police:

Mills entered 264 Rear High St. just before 7 p.m. with a crowbar. Once through the door, he grabbed a samurai sword off the wall and tried to rob two men and a woman inside the house.

Amid the ensuing chaos, someone called 911 and the two men fled the residence.

When Mills tried to rob the woman, she pulled out a gun and shot Mills in the leg. Then she ran out of the house.

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Detective Ron Foy said the woman, who police have not been able to locate since the shooting, had a permit to carry the weapon.

The names of the two men have also not been released.

Foy said Mills has a criminal rap sheet “as long as your sleeve,” and called the shooting “the perfect irony.”

Mills has said he served time in prison for armed robbery, writing bad checks and many drug and alcohol-related charges.

In November, he was charged with withholding information on the whereabouts of Sean Thomas Quinn, a man with an extensive history of drug crimes, theft and burglary, who was wanted in connection with a Nov. 8 burglary at a pizza restaurant in Old Forge.

Quinn was placed in a police cruiser that night but because of a missing pinky finger on his right hand he was able to slip out of the handcuffs and escape. He sped away in a police cruiser with police in pursuit.

Quinn managed to avoid capture even after roughly 100 officers launched a massive search for him in the days after his escape.

He was arrested in Kingston Township Nov. 23 after eluding investigators for two weeks. Police captured him outside a township bar as he was riding a bicycle.