{"id":402794,"date":"2026-07-17T22:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/402794\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T22:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:43:09","slug":"us-forest-service-workers-held-hostage-at-gunpoint-in-california-forest-for-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/402794\/","title":{"rendered":"US Forest Service workers held hostage at gunpoint in California forest for hours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two U.S. Forest Service workers were safe and free Friday after being held for hours by an armed man inside a Northern California forest, authorities said.<\/p>\n

The situation began around 10:55 a.m. Thursday when the U.S. Forest Service called Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office about a man taking two of their members hostage within a remote area of Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Jeremiah LaRue, the Siskiyou County sheriff, said Friday at a news conference.<\/p>\n

The suspect, later identified as Joseph Henrichsen, 49, allegedly zip-tied the two Forest Service members and held them at gunpoint in a trailer near Gumboot Lake, LaRue told reporters. Drones were used to find the trailer, according to the sheriff.<\/p>\n

\"KRCR<\/p>\n

KRCR – PHOTO: A press conference on the kidnapping of U.S. Forest Service employees, July 17, 2026, at the Shasta Lake Ranger Station in Redding, Calif.<\/p>\n

Henrichsen allegedly wanted to speak to the FBI and began a standoff with authorities, according to LaRue.<\/p>\n

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Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI Hostage Rescue Team from Quantico, Virginia, arrived on the scene and began engaging with the suspect at about 4:20 p.m., LaRue said.<\/p>\n

“There was a lot that transpired,” he added.<\/p>\n

Around 1:50 a.m. Friday, the two hostages were released safely and they later returned home, according to LaRue.<\/p>\n

\"Carol<\/p>\n

Carol M. Highsmith\/Buyenlarge\/Getty Images – PHOTO: Mount Shasta, located at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, Calif.<\/p>\n

Henrichsen and his adult son came out of the trailer and were arrested at around 2:30 a.m., LaRue said.<\/p>\n

The investigation is ongoing. Investigators said the motive remains unclear.<\/p>\n

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Inside the trailer, which did not belong to the U.S. Forest Service, were a rifle and knives, according to investigators. The suspect allegedly claimed he had grenades as well, investigators said.<\/p>\n

Henrichsen will be charged with kidnapping a federal employee, investigators said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two U.S. Forest Service workers were safe and free Friday after being held for hours by an armed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,161618,161617,161616,266,34171,18515],"class_list":["post-402794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-fbi-hostage-rescue-team","tag-jeremiah-larue","tag-joseph-henrichsen","tag-northern-california","tag-shasta-trinity-national-forest","tag-u-s-forest-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}