The Greenville Police Department SWAT team was deployed Thursday night to apprehend a “high-risk felon.”

The operation resulted in the arrest of Gerald Colson. Colson, 40, was wanted in Greenville for first-degree rape and sodomy.

According to Lt. Justin Lovvorn, authorities received a tip from an informant that Colson was hiding out in Georgiana and planning to flee to New York Friday morning.

“My informant isn’t really familiar with Georgiana, but he was able to give us enough information that with the help of the Georgiana Police Department we were able to locate the house that the subject was staying in,” Lovvorn said.

Once authorities located the residence, spotted Colson’s vehicle in the backyard, and got word from witnesses who had seen Colson on the front porch of the house, the SWAT team surrounded the residence. After entering and clearing the house, officers found Colson hiding in a bedroom.

“We were able to take him without incident,” Lovvorn said.

Lovvorn said the SWAT team was deployed because of threats Colson had made to the informant and others.

“He had made comments that he wasn’t going to be taken into custody,” Lovvorn said. “He had told my informant and others a story about assaulting a police officer in Georgia and getting away, and also about stabbing his girlfriend in Florida and then fleeing the state. From what we had heard, we expected him to be armed and to do whatever he could to avoid being taken into custody. We take those threats seriously, so we felt like it was best to utilize the SWAT team in this case.”

Lovvorn said that Colson might also have felony warrants in Florida and Mississippi.

“We’re still waiting to hear back from them, but I believe he is wanted in those states as well,” he said.