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Managing editor

One of two men who pleaded guilty in Anoka County District Court to two of four felony charges  in connection with a drug deal gone bad in Blaine, during which shots were fired, has had prison time stayed and been put on probation.

Daroyce Garnell Mills, 18, Minneapolis, and Edward Earl King Jr., 21, Columbia Heights, both entered guilty pleas to two counts of second-degree assault with two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery dismissed in plea agreements.

At sentencing Nov. 6, the court stayed consecutive 36-month prison terms and put Mills on probation for seven years, as well as giving him credit for the 244 days he has served in jail.

Probation conditions include no contact with the victims, cognitive skills training, no use or possession of dangerous firearms and forfeit those that he has, random chemical testing at his own expense and supply a DNA sample.

King is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 24.

The late afternoon of March 8, Blaine Police responded to area of Polk Street and Cloverleaf Parkway on the 9400 block on a report of gunfire and suspects leaving the area in two separate cars.

According to the complaint, a witness at an apartment complex in the area heard gunshots and looked in that direction, where she saw two black males wearing black hats each carrying a silver handgun near a white mini van in the parking lot, then run toward and get in a red car, which left the parking lot followed by a blue car with another male inside, according to the complaint.

Police found a man, 20, in the white minivan, who said he had made arrangements with another male, 18, to meet and sell marijuana to two unknown men.

He held on to some two ounces of marijuana, while his partner met with two men and showed them a sample of marijuana while the three were in his blue car.

The complaint states that his partner opened one of the car doors slightly to yell for help which prompted him to grab a bat from his van and run to the partner’s blue car, where he saw two black males armed with silver-colored handguns.

The man said that his partner, after the three got out of the car, rushed at one of the men, who fired a shot, then hit his partner on the head with the butt of the gun.

The man ran back to his minivan, but the armed suspect took the car keys from him and demanded the marijuana, which the man gave to him, the complaint states.

The two armed men got into the red car that was being driven by a white woman and had another white male in it, while his partner left in a blue car.

The red car was stopped by Blaine Police at 89th Avenue and Seventh Street. Inside were the woman driver and three passengers - a white male juvenile and two black males, identified as King and Mills.

According to the complaint, a search of the vehicle turned up two handguns and a bag that contained a large amount of marijuana.

The witness at the apartment to the incident was taken to the vehicle stop and positively identified King and Mills as the men at the scene of the shootings.

Coon Rapids Police assisted in finding the man who had been pistol whipped and left in the blue car. He had an injury above his left eye and a sweatshirt with blood stains.

He told officers that it was a drug deal gone bad.

Peter Bodley is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it