A father and son are expected to face federal kidnapping charges after they zip-tied two U.S. Forest Service employees and held them at gunpoint inside a trailer in Northern California near Mt. Shasta.
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said the two workers were conducting routine field operations in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest when they were taken Thursday. They were released early Friday morning after being held for more than 12 hours near Gunboot Lake.
“I want to say how profoundly grateful and relieved that we are, that our two employees were released safely. Their well-being continues to be our highest priority,” Schultz said.
The 49-year-old suspect and his adult son surrendered around 2:30 a.m. Friday and walked out of the trailer carrying an assault rifle and knives. He also told authorities he had grenades.
Shortly after deputies from the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s office reached the remote area around noon Thursday they deployed drones to help locate the trailer and started calling additional law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, for help.
FBI Sacramento acting Special Agent in Charge Brian Tosh said it’s fortunate no one was hurt during the standoff.
“Crisis situations like this don’t often result in everyone leaving the scene safely,” Tosh said.
U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said he plans to charge both men with kidnapping federal employees, but no charges were listed in online court records Saturday afternoon.
The Associated Press contributed to this report