Hostage standoff ends at Clinton campaign office in N.H.
(Brian Snyder/Reuters)
The suspect unstraps the flares from his body as he surrenders to police.
By Scott Helman and James Pindell, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent
ROCHESTER, N.H. -- A 46-year-old man wearing what looked like a bomb under his sweater and tie walked into Hillary Clinton's campaign office today and took five people hostage. But the incident ended with the release of all the hostages and the arrest of the man, authorities said.
Leeland Eisenberg of Somersworth, N.H. faces state charges of kidnapping, reckless endangerment, and criminal threatening after the 5 1/2-hour standoff that began sometime after noon. He could also face federal charges, said Rochester Police Chief David Dubois.
Dubois said Eisenberg had acted "for his own personal reasons" and wouldn't detail his motives further.
Colonel Frederick Booth, the head of the New Hampshire State Police, said Eisenberg had wanted to speak to Clinton, but negotiators had refused.
"As a tactical standpoint, that would have not been a wise move," Booth said. He said bomb disposal experts had determined that the devices Eisenberg had strapped to his body were road flares.
"We're grateful that there was a peaceful outcome, that the hostages are now safe and with their loved ones," Kelly Ayotte, the New Hampshire attorney general, said at a news conference this evening with law enforcement officials.
Clinton told the media earlier at a news conference outside her Washington home that it had been a "very difficult day, personally and emotionally." She said she was "especially just relieved to have this situation end so peacefully without anyone being injured."
"I just could not be prouder of the people who are in my campaign," she said.
She held a second news conference in New Hampshire tonight, praising her campaign workers' courage, and thanking law enforcement officials for their work.
The possibility of a bomb brought the city of about 30,000 to a standstill as agents from the FBI, Secret Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms joined bomb squads and SWAT teams from the New Hampshire State Police and local officers. The officers blocked off the downtown area and trained automatic weapons on the office.
Three staffers, a volunteer, and a small child were in the office when Eisenberg entered. Eisenberg immediately let the mother and child leave. The mother notified police. Two of the other hostages were released; the third escaped, authorities said.
At the end of the standoff, Eisenberg walked out of the office with his arms up, slowly removed his sweater, and pulled off the contraption duct-taped to his waist. Members of the SWAT team ordered him to the ground and handcuffed him.
The authorities wouldn't identify any of the hostages.
Booth said the hostages had been communicating with the police during the standoff.
"I don't think he fully had control of them during the whole process," he said. He added that the hostages "were extremely helpful in bringing this to a successful conclusion."
Clinton was scheduled to give an address at the Democratic National Committee meeting in Vienna, Va., this afternoon, but DNC Chairman Howard Dean announced from the podium that Clinton would not speak.
Workers for Senator Barack Obama's campaign office in Rochester also were evacuated, a campaign spokesman said. The office is four doors away from Clinton's. John Edwards's staffers also were evacuated from their nearby office.
At the trailer park where he lived in Somersworth, about 10 miles from Rochester, neighbors described Eisenberg as "crazy" and "always starting fights." They said he and his wife this summer moved into an old trailer, which they refurbished.
"From Day One, I said, 'This guy is nuts,'" said Kathleen Carlson, who lives in the trailer next door to Eisenberg and his wife.
She and other neighbors said Eisenberg was unemployed and frequently drunk.
"He started fights with people leaving my house," Carlson said. "He was always drunk. I felt sorry for his wife. He was always fighting with her, always throwing things at her. I told her, 'If you have any trouble during the night and you’re scared, come over and knock on my door.' He is crazy. I never wanted to speak to him."
(Scott Helman/Globe Staff)
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