by Al Summers
News Editor • alsummers@timescourier.com
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James Calvin Sluder, Jr.
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The hunt for James Calvin Sluder, Jr., 31, of Ellijay has brought the Georgia State Patrol’s Special Weapons and Tactics Team to Gilmer County, along with a helicopter equipped with a FLIR system, which uses an infrared system to detect heat, a heavily armored assault vehicle, and a robot.
Members of the team, along with uniformed state troopers and officers and detectives from the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Department spent a good portion of Monday afternoon and evening, Oct. 2 at a staging area at New Hope Baptist Church preparing for an assault on a residence off New Hope Clubhouse Road.
Just after 8:30 p.m., the team’s robot entered the residence, but found it empty.
Monday afternoon and into Monday night, a GSP helicopter with a sniper positioned on the skid flew over the area looking for signs of Sluder, but none were detected. SWAT team members arrived in a heavily armored unit and began planning for an assault on the place where Sluder was suspected to be hiding.
Law officers were back on his trail Tuesday morning after Sluder flagged down a motorist and used his cell phone to make some calls.
According to Det. Capt. R.T. Henry of the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Department’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID), Sluder is being sought on a number of criminal charges. He has made multiple threats against law enforcement officers and other individuals, and he is considered armed and dangerous.
Late Tuesday night, sheriff’s department officials had received information that individuals had been assisting Sluder elude capture. Henry told the Times-Courier anyone caught aiding Sluder would be prosecuted.
Anyone with any information regarding Sluder or his whereabouts, or if they see something or someone suspicious, should call Gilmer CID at (706) 635-4646, the Gilmer County Detention Center at (706) 635-4625, non-emergency dispatch at (706) 635-8911, or 911.