Police and SWAT team members continued their search of a section of sprawling New Jersey woods for a man wanted on charges related to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
The search for the man, identified as Gregory Yetman, was ongoing near the Middlesex County town of Helmetta, according to the FBI. Tactical teams could be seen in the backyard of homes, as Chopper 4 showed law enforcement searching one property and a shed. The heavily armed teams set off flashbang grenades as part of the search, with the loud bangs echoing throughout the neighborhood.
It was not immediately clear what specific charges Yetman was facing, or how long police had been looking for him, but they confirmed that no arrest had been made as of Wednesday evening. Law enforcement intended to stay in the area until he was caught.
When FBI agents went to approach a house Wednesday morning near Helmetta to try to make the arrest, Yetman apparently saw them coming and ran away, a senior law enforcement official told NBC New York.
Yetman served as a sergeant in the New Jersey National Guard until March 2022.
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Helmetta Mayor Chris Slavicek said the law enforcement activity and search was "not the normal and absolutely unsettling." The mayor added that law enforcement's goal was to "detain this gentleman today."
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Officers were also seen removing boxes from a home and searched a car.
Schools in Helmetta were already closed for a scheduled day off Wednesday, but nearby schools in nearby Jamesburg held classes. No lockdown to stay indoors was put in place in the area. Slavicek said the suspect is "no stranger to this community" but also "isn't out to harm any of the residents."
