Middletown Man Who Admitted To Stabbing Has Prior Criminal History

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The Middletown man who pleaded guilty last Friday to stabbing a female relative is the same man who was shot by Toms River Police in 2016, after police in that town say he threatened them with a gun.

The man is Timothy J. Sauers, 38, of Middletown. On Jan. 3, he pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree attempted murder, after police say he stabbed a female relative multiple times inside the family home on Hillside Street in Middletown on July 5, 2023.

Police say he also stabbed another person who stepped in to stop the attack. Both people survived the stabbing.

Sauers is currently being held at the Monmouth County jail, and will remain there until his sentencing in February.

In the summer of 2016, Sauers, then 29, survived being shot multiple times by Toms River Police officers after he pointed an air gun at officers, said then-Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato. Both the officers and Sauers thought it was a real handgun.

At 11:32 p.m. on July 7, 2016, a Toms River police officer on a routine patrol stopped and approached Sauers at Haines Road and Cedar Drive. This is an area of Toms River known as Brown's Woods, and it had been the focus of increased patrols by Toms River Police after several crimes and drug overdoses took place there.

The officer told Sauers he was parked illegally. The officer asked for identification and Sauers provided it; the officer then told Sauers to return to his Jeep Cherokee and sit in the driver's seat. Dispatch told the officer Sauers had an outstanding arrest warrant out of South Toms River, and two additional police officers arrived. At that point, the officers approached the Jeep and Sauers got out and pointed a gun at the officers, the Ocean County Prosecutor said at the time.

The Ocean County Sheriff determined the gun was an air gun but had a semi-automatic design with a slide and pistol grip, and it qualified it as a handgun under the law. Sauers later told police he got the gun from his brother, and he believed it was a real gun.

The lead officer yelled “gun,” fell to the ground and fired his service weapon. The other officers also fired their guns.

Sauers was hit by gunfire several times. He jumped into the Toms River in an attempt to get away and was found after an exhaustive search.

An investigation by Prosecutor Coronato found police were justified in using deadly force during the encounter. In that incident, Sauers was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun, aggravated assault on an officer and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose. It is unknown how those charges were resolved.

At the time of that incident, Sauers was living on Hightstown Drive in Toms River.

Sauers' sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 20 for last summer's stabbing of a family member in Middletown. The Monmouth County Prosecutor will ask the judge he serve 15 years in prison.

Earlier: Middletown Man Admits To Attempted Murder In Stabbing Of Relative

Prior Patch report: 2016 Toms River Police Shooting Of Armed Man Ruled Justified: Prosecutor (April 2017)