journalist, writer, and television producer was born in Washington, DC. His family moved to Lanham, Maryland, when his childhood home in Northeast Washington was destroyed by fire. He had two sisters and a brother. The professions and names of his parents are unknown.
One of his sisters, Gloria Johnson, told the Washington Post that Mills “had a knack for writing that was noticed very early … [she] recalled that when Mills, then 10, and her son, then 5, played with G. I. Joe toys, Mills wrote their dialogue on 3-by-5 cards” (De Moraes and Trescott).
Mills went on to earn a four-year scholarship to the University of Maryland, College Park, where he met his future collaborator and producer of the popular HBO series, The Wire, David Simon. Mills and Simon met at the student newspaper, the Diamondback When Mills graduated from college ...
