Wednesday, August 19, 2026
By Submitted Story on September 29, 2023
Two Midlothian, Virginia men have been arrested in a reported accidental shooting at a Nags Head hotel.
At 2 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28, Nags Head police officers responded to a call for service for gunshot trauma at the Surf Side Hotel in the 6700 block of South Virginia Dare Trail. Arriving officers found a female suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to her head. The 17-year-old victim, from Dinwiddie County, Virginia, was treated by Dare County Emergency Services and transported to The Outer Banks Hospital before being transferred to a hospital in Virginia. Her condition is still critical.
According to a preliminary investigation, the isolated incident took place among a group of friends staying in the hotel. One of the men is alleged to have mishandled the firearm.
Ashton Mills, 22-years-old, is believed to be responsible for the discharge of the firearm. He has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and felony obstruction of justice. He remains in the Dare County Detention Center under a $230,000 secured bond.
A second man, Joshua Smith, 23-years-old, was charged with Storage of Firearms to Protect Minors has been released on a $2,500 unsecured bond.
Nags Head’s Police Department is conducting a thorough investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the events leading up to this tragic incident. Further charges may be forthcoming.
The Department would like to thank the Dare County Sheriff’s Office and Dare County Emergency Services for their assistance.
Nags Head’s Police Department requests that the public keep family and friends impacted by this event in their thoughts during this difficult time.
Comments
Todd
What’s a 17 year old doing in a hotel room at 2am with a 22 and 23 year old?
Sully52
Something doesn’t sound quite right, here.
Steven
Girls/ladies, when you meet a dude with a bunch of tattoos all over, go the other way..
This goes for the dudes too.
Beach person
Pray for the young girl.
Here we go more riff raff from Va. Crime and trashing the pristine OBX
Lemonshirt
I see more and more seemingly law-abiding men toting around a side-arm weapon as if they live in the lawless frontier of old. I assume they think it makes them safer. But it’s to the contrary for the rest of us.
Dylan
@Todd:
Why they’re playing with a gun, of course. What else do you do in a hotel at 2:00am?
Betty Lou
It’s bad enough that we have to deal with this carpetbagging garbage coming to ruin our peace year round, now we have them bringing their weapons and maiming each other too?! Build a wall at the VA/NC border and keep the mongrels out of here, shut down the bridge… DO SOMETHING!
JP
Steven, what do tattoos have to do with any of this? Some of the most evil people I’ve ever met or heard of are clean cut, church-going people. I am covered in tattoos– I volunteer in the community, treat people with kindness, and don’t judge books by their cover. Your statement makes you sound ignorant and intolerant.
These guys are idiots and should never have been in that room with a 17 yr old girl, but I highly doubt their tattoos had anything to do with it.
Judging
Wow. Judging much? Do you think that the OBX Citizens walk on water? There is “riff raff” everywhere. I hate to tell you fine folks of the OBX, your shit smells just like everyone else. Betty Lou, I hope you were being facetious. Nope? You can’t shut down the bridge. It’s illegal. Just like the COVID shutdown of the bridge was illegal.
You righteous folks are out of touch with reality!
Mike Raphone
Lemonshirt, the people you describe are certainly not the ones listed in this article. Your safety is most certainly not affected by anyone carrying a sidearm. I hear England is real nice this time of year.
That being said, it would be great if they actually punished these two for the crimes charged against them. You know, actually enforce the gun laws already in place.
BB
This is for Betty Lou! You have no idea what you are talking about. Unless you live under a rock your place Outer Banks is garbage.. and not very peaceful! Your hotels there continue to rent out rooms to the “thugs” trying to be tough, all for the mighty dollar. You dont know anything about the underage girl. Of course its easy to sit back and judge when you dont know anything that is going on. Why are the hotels allowing this, why are the n.c police allowing all this. yes the girl should not have been there , but i think she is paying dearly for it now. everyone needs to focus on the idiot that were there , that did this to her. they deserve to rot in prison.
Dan-O
I assume the people citing “Virginia riff-raff” are being satirical. Every time I pass the Dairy Queen on 158, I think of the “riff-raff” that killed those four “outsiders” years back. Every time I drive by the still-vacant Port of Call on beach road, I think of the placidity of those wet t-shirt contests and of a man lying outside, in a gutter, with his intestines eviscerated as the rain falls on his dying body. Yep…”pristine” sounds about right.
Parker
This situation needs way more investigation. Why is there a 17 year old, UNDERAGE, female with men who are 22 and 23 years old?