Two U.S. Forest Service employees rescued after being zip-tied and held hostage at gunpoint

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.

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.

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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 news conference Friday.

The suspect, identified as Joseph Charles Henrichsen, 49, had used one of the victim’s phones to make a call stating he had taken the two Forest Service employees and he had “live rounds ready to [expletive] anyone who [expletives] with me,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said in a news release.