Miller takes Alford plea in March incident

Samuel Miller, 38, of Gainesville, pleaded guilty by way of Alford plea to the charge of first degree harassment. In connection with a plea agreement, charges of terrorist threatening and two counts of armed criminal action were dismissed. Miller was sentenced to SIS, 5 years probation and complete anger management classes.

Charges stem from a March 25, 2025, incident when he reportedly shot several rounds from an automatic weapon near his former workplace. According to the probable cause statement prepared by Ozark County Lt. Matthew Rhoades, the OCSD received a call on March 25, from an employee at the business. According to the employee, Miller had been fired two weeks prior and was upset about losing his job. The employee said Miller had texted her and other employees, saying “everyone involved with his firing would be held accountable.” 

“The suspect appeared to be very unstable in his text messages and voice recordings that I heard on scene,” Rhoades wrote in the statement. “The suspect stated that possibly no one would see him again, that he has a lot of personal stress in his life, etc.”

Miller, who rented a house approximately 100 yards from the business, was allegedly messaging the woman and another employee about “holding them to account.” Rhoades’s report says that at around 9:50 p.m. Wednesday night, the reporting victim and other employees who were working at the same time, heard a long burst of gunfire coming from the direction of Miller’s house. “[The employees] sought shelter in the factory.”

According to the employee on scene, she sent all six of the workers home right after the shooting because she feared Miller might come to the business and carry out his threats, Rhoades reported in the statement.

“Deputy [Hunter] Ryan and I went to the house to contact the suspect . . . We did see multiple spent steel shell casings that appeared to be from a larger center-fire rifle as would be common for an AK-47 style rifle, in the side yard that were visible from the driveway. We canvassed the area for the suspect once the employees were all safely gone but did not locate him,” Rhoades wrote.

According to the probable cause statement, Ozark County Deputy Jeffrey Lane drove past Miller’s residence the next day and saw that Miller’s white car was at the house.

Associate Judge Raymond Gross granted a search warrant and deputies met at the business prior to serving the warrant. According to the probable cause statement, Miller called Deputy Lane via Facebook and then came out of his house to meet the deputies. Rhoades said he spoke with Miller prior to his arrest. 

According to the probable cause statement, Miller said he was fired from the business and has been going through a lot in his personal life. “He texted victim #1 and only meant that the people that got him fired should be held accountable as he was (meaning they should be fired). He did not mean that to be a threat in any way and did not mean for them to take it that way.

“He stated he shot approximately 30 rounds from his AK towards a berm to ‘blow off some steam’ but did not shoot [at the business] and did not mean for them to feel threatened. He then decided to go fishing late at night.”

Rhoades wrote that several items were collected from Miller’s residence and placed in evidence including 29 steel shell casings in the yard. “A large number of shell casings were located in a position inconsistent with the [area] where the casings would have landed if the AK was fired at the berm. We located nine firearms inside the residence and seized them as well as two cell phones.”