[1][2] At around 9:20 pm Rachel called out from the offices to tell Mills that were going to leave soon, Mills began to walk towards the offices and while he was crossing a road way, a soldier of the King's Regiment known as M4 shot at him from a sangar on the roof of the Vere Foster School.
[2] Although not hitting him, the round ricocheted off the ground and caused shrapnel from the tarmac and bullet to hit his right hand, another watchman Norman Agnew heard the shot and saw Mills look at his right hand and then drop, another six shots were fired one of which fatally struck him in the left arm.
[3] In 2021 Ciarán MacAirt of Paper Trail (Legacy Archive Research) uncovered the diary of a commander of the 39th Brigade written in July 1972.
The diary further proved that Mills wasn't killed by the IRA but by the British army.
The inquest confirmed that Mills was unarmed and posed no threat, and that M4's use of force was a breach of the "Yellow Card" rules.