Apache Comics’ Gushee serving Arizona prison sentence on reduced charges
Anthony Gushee, the former owner of a Mesa comic book store, went to prison for at least five years this summer after pleading guilty in connection with the fatal shooting of a man and shooting and injuring a woman in late 2019.
Gushee, onetime owner of Apache Comics & Toys at 9333 E. Apache Trail, was arrested there late one night after police responded to reports of shots fired earlier that day at a Main Street motel.
Arizona Department of Corrections records show Anthony W. Gushee, 47, entered the prison system in Yuma on June 20 after a nearly two-year trial. On June 16 of this year, he was sentenced on charges of reckless manslaughter, aggravated assault and narcotic drug violations. Gushee pleaded guilty to reduced charges; he originally faced charges of premeditated murder in the first degree, attempt to commit first-degree, premeditated murder, aggravated serious assault with physical injury and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, as well as the drug charges.
The Department of Corrections lists Gushee’s prison release date as Oct. 16, 2028; DOC notes that all release dates are projected and subject to change.
Background on the Anthony Gushee case …
On Nov. 11, 2019, Mesa police found Aaron James Miller, 28, dead at the motel scene and an unidentified woman with life-threatening gunshot wounds who needed surgery but, according to police records, survived her injuries.
The aggravated assault charge Gushee pleaded guilty to stemmed from an earlier Nov. 8, 2019, confrontation with a different man and woman in east Mesa. In this case a few days before the fatal Main Street motel shooting, a man was shot in the arm and upper body while speeding away in a pickup truck from two armed males. According to police reports a female passenger, the shooting victim’s girlfriend, identified one of the attackers as Gushee and told police she knew him as a heroin dealer who gets young females high and has sex with them. She also told police she and her boyfriend took some associates to Gushee’s house about 1 1/2 months earlier and that those people stole comic books and toys from the residence.
Apache Comics closed in April 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Related: Gushee case coverage …
- Murder trial of comic store owner set (UPDATED)
- Mesa comic book store owner arrested in motel murder faces charges in earlier shooting
- Mesa comic shop owner charged with murder, aggravated assault
