Homeless pair booked on suspicion of murder in crossbow attack

A transient and his teenage companion could be charged this week in the bizarre crossbow killing of a man and wounding of another in Humboldt County, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Authorities say two transients -- Phoenix Triton King, 20, and a 16-year-old girl whom authorities declined to identify because of her age -- used a crossbow to fatally shoot a 44-year-old man in the face and wound a 41-year-old man over the weekend.

The suspects were taken into custody Monday afternoon without incident by a SWAT unit after they were spotted by a helicopter in a brush-covered area in the Friends of Dunes nature center in Arcata, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department said.

King and the girl were booked on suspicion of murder and attempted murder Monday. Neither has been charged yet, the Humboldt County district attorney’s office said.

The hunt for King and the girl began Sunday afternoon after someone called 911 to report an injured man lying on the side of the road in an isolated stretch between Arcata Bay and the coast.

A second witness reported seeing two people ride away from the area on bicycles, then ditch them and run into the woods after being confronted, sheriff’s officials said.

During the search, deputies found the body of a 44-year-old man who had apparently been fatally shot in the face by an arrow. The body was found in a thicket of trees and bushes edging the coastline about 200 yards west of the wounded victim, officials said.

King and the girl allegedly attacked the victims because they believed the two men had stolen belongings from the transients’ homeless camp, officials said.

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Joseph.serna@latimes.com

Twitter: @josephserna