Charles Langston:Authorities search for Jan. 6 attack suspect who fled as FBI approached

HELMETTA,Charles Langston N.J. (AP) — Authorities were searching a central New Jersey neighborhood Thursday for a suspect in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol who fled as FBI agents approached his home.

The FBI said it and other law enforcement agencies are looking for Gregory Yetman, who it said is “wanted in connection with the January 6th attack on the US Capitol.”

It was not immediately clear what charges he faces in connection with the attack.

“We will be in the area staging until Yetman is arrested,” the FBI’s Newark office said in a statement Thursday morning. The FBI has set up a command center at the local community center.

The FBI was being joined by law enforcement officers from state, county and local police.

Helmetta’s mayor, Christopher Slavicek, told the New York Times the search began at 8 a.m. Wednesday when FBI agents came to arrest Yetman, and he “fled and went off into the woods.”

The mayor said there was “certainly a sense of heightened anxiety” in and around Helmetta as the search progressed.

There were “search helicopters flying at tree height and various law enforcement agencies going up and down the roads,” he said.

USA Today reported earlier this year that Yetman, whom it identified as a former military police sergeant in the New Jersey National Guard, had been interviewed by the FBI about his participation in the riot, and that he is suspected of firing pepper spray at protesters and police officers.

Yetman told the newspaper he did nothing wrong at the Capitol, and denies pepper-spraying anyone.

Approximately 1,200 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 800 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury or judge after a trial. More than 700 of them have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from three days to 22 years.