In this image from AP Television News, S.W.A.T. team members escort a hostage out of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign office in Rochester, N.H. Friday Nov. 30, 2007. (AP Photo/APTN)
by Jill Zuckman, updated at 6:39 pm
Update:
A mentally ill man released all of his hostages from the Clinton campaign office in Rochester, N.H. and police took him into custody this evening, ending a tense afternoon that brought out swarms of police, sharpshooters and media to the small seacoast town.
Leland Eisenberg, the Rochester man who entered the office with a bomb-like device strapped to his chest, had said he was having trouble getting mental health help and wanted to talk to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).
Two hostages inside the Clinton campaign office had released earlier in the day.
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Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign said it would release information when appropriate following a hostage situation in its Rochester, N.H. campaign office.
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A man with a bomb strapped to his chest has taken two campaign workers hostage, according to WMUR-TV.
“A young woman with a 6-month or 8-month-old infant came rushing into the store just in tears, and she said, ‘You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape,'” said witness Lettie Tzizik, according to WMUR.
Other witnesses described the man as in his 40s with salt-and-pepper hair.
“There is an ongoing situation in our Rochester, NH office,” the Clinton campaign said in a statement. “We are in close contact with state and local authorities and are acting at their direction. We will release additional details as appropriate.”
Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign evacuated its Rochester campaign office in response to the situation, which has brought sharpshooters onto the roofs of businesses near the Clinton campaign. Sen. Hillary Clinton cancelled a speech she was planning to give at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting.
Rochester, a gritty, working class town that has been in decline for a number of years, is located just north of Dover on New Hampshire’s sea coast.
Throughout the state Friday, political activists waited for news of the hostage situation and wondered about the safety of other campaign offices, as well as the state capital. Security is virtually nonexistent each of these places and anyone can walk in at any time.
The Clinton office in Rochester is a small storefront – no more than 600 square feet – with just two paid staffers who have been there little more than a month.
“It’s a concern, but I don’t know what you can do about it if you’re actually going to have grassroots campaigns,” said Caroline McCarley, a former state senator from Rochester who ran John Edwards’ campaign in the state in 2004. “Most of these offices are on the first floor and what you want is people coming in.”