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SISKIYOU COUNTY, Calif. — Law enforcement in far Northern California’s Siskiyou County announced the arrests of a father and his adult son in the alleged kidnapping of two U.S. Forest Service workers, who are now safe and free.
The sheriff says they got a call around 10:55 a.m. Thursday from the Forest Service that a man had taken two Forest Service employees hostage in a very remote area.
The 49-year-old suspect had zip-tied the two Forest Service workers, holding them at gunpoint for nearly 15 hours in a trailer near Gumboot Lake in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, officials said.
The suspect indicated he wanted to speak with the FBI, but it remains unclear why. Officials are still investigating motives for the kidnapping.
A huge contingent of law enforcement moved into the area. The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team arrived on a Boeing 757 from Quantico as snipers, SWAT teams, bomb units, and drones were deployed.
Dashcam footage shows armed officers in tactical gear hitching a ride from a passing pickup truck.
Eventually, after many hours of negotiating, the two Forest Service workers were released just before 2 a.m. and are now safe at home.
The suspect and his adult son came out and were arrested at around 2:30 a.m.
The father will be charged with kidnapping a federal employee. In the trailer, he had an AR-15, knives, and claimed to have grenades.
It’s unclear if the trailer was his, but it did not belong to the Forest Service.
7 Eyewitness News contributed to this story.
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