Burlington County Man Accused Of Shooting At Police Officer Indicted: Prosecutor

A Burlington County man has been indicted on charges connected to the shooting of a police officer who was attempting to conduct a well-being check at his apartment earlier this year.

Jeffrey R. Wass, 55, of Evesham Township, was indicted on two counts of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, two counts of aggravated assault (second and third-degree), second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, third-degree certain persons not to have firearms and fourth-degree aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced.

On May 24, Evesham Township police and fire personnel responded to the Niew Amsterdam Apartments on North Maple Avenue by a maintenance worker who found Wass unconscious on his couch when he went into Wass’s apartment to investigate the smell of natural gas.

As he explored the apartment further, he found that the burners on the oven were turned on, but weren’t lit. The worker turned off the burners, and PSE&G was called to the scene to shut down gas and electric service to the entire building to prevent an explosion.

Police arrived on the scene, and were able to contact Wass verbally from the door. However, police said Wass told them not to enter. Police attempted to call Wass on the phone several times, but he didn’t answer.
An officer then returned to the doorway and yelled inside for him to answer his phone. At this point, Wass fired a gunshot inside the apartment, police said. The officers took cover.

After police say Wass refuted their attempts to re-initiate contact, New Jersey State Police that responded to the scene deployed a tactical robot. The robot transmitted images that showed Wass was incapacitated on his sofa. At that point, police entered the home and arrested Wass.

A 9 mm pistol was recovered during the subsequent execution of a court-authorized search warrant, according to police.

The attached image of Jeffrey R. Wass was previously provided by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office