Joseph Charles Henrichsen and his son were arrested after holding two U.S. Forest Service workers hostage in a Northern California forest.

Joseph Charles Henrichsen and his son, Phoenix Henrichsen, were arrested after a 12-hour standoff in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The two men were charged with kidnapping a federal employee after holding two U.S. Forest Service workers at gunpoint inside a trailer near Gumboot Lake. The incident began Thursday morning when Joseph Charles Henrichsen allegedly zip-tied the workers and held them hostage while requesting to speak with the FBI. Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, responded to the remote area to negotiate with the suspect, who was armed with a rifle and knives. The hostages were released safely at approximately 1:50 a.m. on Friday morning. Joseph Charles Henrichsen and Phoenix Henrichsen emerged from the trailer and were taken into custody by around 2:30 a.m. While the specific motive for the kidnapping remains unclear, investigators noted that the suspect had previously been ruled incompetent to stand trial in a 2022 hate crime case.

Sources