A heavily armored team of police and FBI agents swooped down on a New Jersey community Wednesday, searching for a man wanted in connection with the events that took place at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The man they’re looking for has been identified as Gregory Yetman, according to USA Today.
Yetman, 47, was reportedly seen in Jan. 6 videos pepper-spraying Capitol Police officers and is wanted for assault on a federal officer.
Yetman “fled his home in the small town of Helmetta on Wednesday morning after FBI agents and local police attempted to serve him with an arrest warrant,” USA Today reported, citing the town’s mayor, Christopher Slavicek.
WPIX-TV reported that the officers, including members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, showed up at dawn at Yetman’s door, but he hopped a fence and disappeared into a wooded area.
WPIX quoted an FBI spokesperson as saying, “We have brought in numerous resources and assets to assist in the search for Yetman, and the public will continue to see an increased law enforcement presence around [Helmetta].”
Slavicek told USA Today that the influx of armed officers and armored vehicles has the town on edge.
“A situation like this of course brings heightened anxiety,” he said. “It’s not normal to see FBI agents and vehicles and tanks in your community. … You never think something like this will happen in your own backyard.”
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Officials issued a shelter-in-place order for schools in nearby Spotswood as the search continued Wednesday, though police said there was “no immediate threat to Spotswood residents.”
The events of Jan. 6, 2021, began as a rally and peaceful protest, but some members of the crowd surged into the Capitol, breaking windows and pushing past police as Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
About 1,000 have been arrested and prosecuted. Now, nearly three years later, the FBI is continuing its efforts to identify and track down others who were at the Capitol that day.
It has been aided by what USA Today described as “volunteer sleuths online” and by the outlet itself, which boasted of publishing an investigation earlier this year that identified Yetman.
USA Today interviewed Yetman for the March story, quoting him as saying that he “did nothing wrong that day at the Capitol” and that he “didn’t pepper-spray anyone.”
The outlet reported that more than 100 additional Jan. 6 suspects “have already been named by groups of online researchers known as ‘sedition hunters.’”
Yetman is a former military police sergeant with the New Jersey National Guard who was honorably discharged in March 2022 after 12 years of service, according to WPIX.
At least one local resident questioned “the level of manpower and firepower” being used in the search for Yetman, the outlet reported.
