BENSON - The Appleton man arrested Tuesday in his second armed standoff with law enforcement now faces three new felony charges.
William Steven Synowczynski, 37, is charged in Swift County District Court with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of terroristic threats.
ADVERTISEMENT
He is also facing one gross misdemeanor charge of fifth-degree drug possession stemming from Tuesday's arrest.
Synowczynski had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a settlement conference on charges of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and fourth-degree assault of a peace officer filed after an armed standoff with law enforcement in July 2017.
According to court documents filed Wednesday in Swift County District Court, law enforcement, including the West Central SWAT team, were called at 12:24 p.m. Tuesday to a residence on the 200 block of East Snelling Avenue in Appleton.
The caller, who was identified in court documents as Synowczynski's wife, told law enforcement he had a pipe and a bullet and was threatening both law enforcement and herself.
When law enforcement arrived on scene, officers learned Synowczynski was in a fish house parked in the backyard, while the rest of the family was in the house, documents said. The family was evacuated.
Synowczynski had an improvised 12-gauge zip gun that was handmade from a steel pipe with a 12-gauge round, court documents said. A shotgun also was reported missing from the family's basement.
Law enforcement learned Synowczynski had been taking drugs and alcohol during the past couple of weeks and that his wife had recently asked for a divorce, court documents state.
ADVERTISEMENT
Synowczynski had moved out into the fish house last week and had been saying he was going to kill himself. At one point Tuesday, Synowczynski had been in the family home, but a family member locked the door behind him when he left.
When Synowczynski returned to the door, he had the steel pipe and bullet and told his wife that she was going to die today.
Members of the SWAT team tried to talk with Synowcyznski while he was in the fish house. The documents said Synowcyznski continued to yell at law enforcement, saying they were going to die, at one point brandishing the improvised 12-gauge zip gun out the window.
The SWAT team shot canisters of pepper spray into the fish house, but Synowcyznski refused to come out, even though he could be heard coughing inside the fish house.
After negotiations continued to fail and Synowcyznski would not exit the fish house, a skid loader was used to break through the front of the fish house. Synowcyznski continued to refuse law enforcement orders to come out. A SWAT officer used a stun gun on Synowcyznski through one of the fish house windows and he was taken into custody, the court documents said.
On Synowcyznski's person, the improvised 12-gauge zip gun was found and the 12-gauge slug was found to be live.
A search warrant that was executed at Synowcyznski's house and fish house found additional ammunition and a firearm. Also found in the fish house was a small white plastic file with white residue on it. This residue field tested positive for the presence of methamphetamine.
ADVERTISEMENT
Synowcyznski was medically cleared from the hospital and transported to jail. A preliminary breath test found Synowcyznki's blood-alcohol level to be at 0.20, court documents said.
Also filed in court Wednesday was an application for a warrant for Synowczynski's arrest for violating the terms of his release for the July 2017 overnight standoff. Conditions on his release included not possessing or consuming alcohol or mood-altering drugs not prescribed by a physician and not possessing firearms or ammunition.
According to the criminal complaint in that July case, Synowczynski apparently fled from a drunken driving breath test, assaulted the pursuing officer and then barricaded himself in his home for several hours. Late in the standoff he was seen pointing a long gun at officers, according to the complaint. SWAT gained entrance to the house and took Synowczynski into custody after he fell while coming down the stairs, pointing a shotgun at officers. The gun was later found to be loaded.
Synowczynski's next court appearance for both cases is scheduled for March 16.
