Washington Twp Man Dead After Stand Off Had Long History With Police

LONG VALLEY, NJ — The man who killed himself during a 24 hour stand off with Washington Township Police had a long history of arrests and was facing jail time, police confirmed to Patch.

James Appis, 45, died this week from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a stand off with police. WTPD were attempting to arrest him on armed robbery charges at the time of the stand off, police said.

• Read More: Armed Standoff Ends In Suicide: Washington Township Police

Last June, Appis pled guilty to weapons charges, after pointing a rifle at teen boys he said were being "too loud" after they sneezed. A search warrant turned up a rifle with a high-capacity magazine, as Patch previously reported.

Appis was facing 5 years in prison on the weapons charges, and was expected to be sentenced this month.

That was not his first encounter with law enforcement. Appis spent nearly a year in the Morris County Jail after pleading guilty to aggravated assault in a road rage incident against a woman in Chester in 2010.

Appis purposely crashed his car into the woman's after she beeped at him for driving aggressively, reports say. He was banned from owning weapons following that guilty plea.

In 2015, Appis was accused of stabbing a friend in the neck in Hackettstown, as Patch previously reported. Appis allegedly stopped in traffic to say "hello" to a person he knew. When he approached the car, Appis stabbed the victim in the neck and said, "If you ever talk to me again, I have a gun," Hackettstown Sgt. Darren Tynan told Patch at the time.

Charges were still pending on the stabbing at the time of his death.

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