{"id":9378,"date":"2026-07-18T07:54:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T02:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9378"},"modified":"2026-07-18T07:54:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T02:54:35","slug":"two-u-s-forest-service-employees-rescued-after-being-zip-tied-and-held-hostage-at-gunpoint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9378","title":{"rendered":"Two U.S. Forest Service employees rescued after being zip-tied and held hostage at gunpoint"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-3d47b3\" class=\"body-graf\">Two U.S. Forest Service employees were rescued with the help of negotiators after being zip-tied and held hostage for nearly 15 hours in Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Northern California, officials said Friday.<\/p>\n<p><button class=\"styles_subscriptionCTA__LOUeY\" id=\"subscriptionCTA\" type=\"button\"><img decoding=\"async\" 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alt=\"NBC News Icon\" class=\"styles_icon__wRwWv\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"styles_textWrapper__vxvko\">\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB styles_textLarge__qlzwu\">Subscribe to read this story ad-free<\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB\">Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/rockcms\/2026-01\/arrow-f55fa5.svg\" alt=\"arrow\" class=\"styles_arrow__tnruW\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/button><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2cc052\" class=\"body-graf\">The two employees were conducting fieldwork when two armed people took them hostage at gunpoint early Thursday, Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said at a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShastaTrinityNF\/videos\/1371413438232232\" target=\"_blank\"> news conference <\/a>Friday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-154fcd\" class=\"body-graf\">The suspect, identified as Joseph Charles Henrichsen, 49, had used one of the victim\u2019s phones to make a call stating he had taken the two Forest Service employees and he had \u201clive rounds ready to [expletive] anyone who [expletives] with me,\u201d the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of California said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2d1143\" class=\"body-graf\">The sheriff\u2019s office received a call at 10:55 a.m. from a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer reporting that the employees were zip-tied and being held at gunpoint inside a trailer at Gumboot Lake, near Mount Shasta, LaRue said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0a23a9\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cMr. Henrichsen indicated that he had firearms, ammunition, and wanted to speak with the FBI,\u201d LaRue said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-03a325\" class=\"body-graf\">The sheriff\u2019s office sent deputies and its special response team to the location \u2014 described as a rural and rugged area \u2014 around noon and deployed drones, he said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-63c569\" class=\"body-graf\">The FBI\u2019s Sacramento field office was contacted at 12:20 p.m. and deployed agents from Redding, a crisis negotiation team and SWAT, as well as a hostage rescue team and assets from Quantico, Virginia, said Brian Tosh, the FBI Sacramento acting special agent in charge.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f675d6\" class=\"body-graf\">Just after 1 p.m., drones helped authorities identify a trailer where Henrichsen was. Soon after, local, state and federal resources began to flock to the scene, officials said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-3a962e\" class=\"body-graf\">Negotiations started around 4 p.m.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-930e07\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThere\u2019s a lot that transpired between that,\u201d LaRue said. \u201cAt about 1:50 a.m., the survivors, the hostages, the two employees of the Forest Service were released, and I\u2019m so incredibly proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d3fbb7\" class=\"body-graf\">The first hostage came out alone, followed 15 minutes later by the second, Tosh said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a4e379\" class=\"body-graf\">Then around 2:30 a.m., Henrichsen and his adult son, Phoenix Henrichsen<strong>, 23, <\/strong>surrendered and exited the trailer, LaRue said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9ecee5\" class=\"body-graf\">At the time, Joseph Henrichsen had an AR-15 and claimed to have grenades, Tosh said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2446b1\" class=\"body-graf\">Both were arrested and charged with kidnapping of a federal employee. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. It was unclear Friday night if they have attorneys.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-e03ff0\" class=\"body-graf\">The employees were not identified. Officials did not detail whether they were injured.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-db46ea\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cBoth are resting and will need some time to process this experience,\u201d Tosh said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-dd76c4\" class=\"body-graf\">An investigation into motive is underway. It\u2019s not clear why Joseph Henrichsen specifically wanted to speak to the FBI. LaRue said the men weren\u2019t known to law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-5f04eb\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">A slew of agencies aided in the hostage crisis including the Shasta County Sheriff\u2019s Office, the Bureau of Land Management, California Highway Patrol and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two U.S. Forest Service employees were rescued with the help of negotiators after being zip-tied and held hostage for nearly 15 hours in Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Northern California, officials said Friday. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. The two employees were conducting fieldwork when two&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260717-mount-shasta-california-mn-1940-2fbfbc.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}