A manhunt was underway on Wednesday as federal and local authorities searched through a wooded area of New Jersey for a suspect accused of charges related to the U.S. Capitol Breach on January 6.
FBI Newark SWAT officials said in an alert that authorities joined the Jamesburg Police Department and Middlesex County Prosecutors Office in search of Gregory Yetman in Helmetta, New Jersey.
.@JamesburgPolice in NJ:
"FBI Newark SWAT, Jamesburg Police Department, and Middlesex County Prosecutors Office, are currently searching for a man named Gregory Yetman, wanted in connection with the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, in Helmetta, NJ. We are asking the public… pic.twitter.com/iP1jeS9Yxz
— Johnathon O'Halloran (@JohnnyOHally) November 8, 2023
It is not immediately clear what specific charges Yetman faces. However, authorities labeled Yetman as “#278 AFO,” which stands for “Assault on a Federal Officer,” before unmasking his identity, according to reports.
Yetman, 46, allegedly fled into the woods around 9 a.m. as police were trying to serve a warrant.
Authorities described him as a white male who may be armed, and said that he was wearing a red jacket and baseball cap.
Authorities instructed the Spotswood Public Schools to shelter in place and closed surrounding local streets as SWAT team members searched Yetman’s backyard and shed and the backyards of other nearby homes.
According to reports, Yetman served as a military police sergeant in the New Jersey National Guard until the military service honorably discharged him in March 2022.
Yetman admitted in an interview with USA TODAY earlier this year that he was in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021. Online searchers alleged Yetman had used pepper spray while on the Capitol grounds, but he asserted he did nothing wrong and didn’t pepper-spray anyone while he was there on that day.
He said the FBI interviewed him in January 2021, but that he had not heard from federal investigators since.
“Everything’s been resolved, everything’s good,” he said.
Officials estimate approximately 2,000 people were present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. About 800 people out of the massive crowd breached the Capitol grounds, which included some who overturned barricades, clashed with police, and stormed the building in an alleged attempt to stop the January 2021 transfer of presidential power.
Senators from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee published a report alleging several U.S. Capitol security failures on January 6, including the possibility that federal law enforcement agencies had downplayed numerous tips threatening violence ahead of the 2020 presidential election certification.
Federal authorities admitted that there were 8 FBI Confidential Human Sources, according to a court filing, which also alleged DCMetro Police had at least 13 undercover plain-clothes agents, and some 19 informants belonged to Homeland Security Investigations, an agency under the Department of Homeland Security.
The FBI has charged more than 1,100 defendants in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia in relation to the Capitol Breach. Over 650 have pleaded guilty, more than 600 have been sentenced, and half received terms ranging from three days to 22 years.
Over 20 residents from New Jersey have been charged in connection to the Capitol breach, according to the Associated Press.