Katie Trafton-McCauley of Rochester, N.H., with her 7-month-old son, Fionian, spoke about her ordeal.
(Craig Osborne/Foster's Daily Democrat)
ROCHESTER, N.H. - A young mother briefly held hostage during a standoff at Hillary Clinton's campaign office says she's still shaken more than a week after the incident.
"I'm shaken up. There's a lot of readjusting," Katie Trafton-McCauley told Foster's Daily Democrat on Friday night.
Trafton-McCauley, 22, said she normally volunteered for Clinton on Mondays but was downtown Nov. 30 for a holiday parade and stopped by the office.
She had been inside about 15 minutes when a man, later identified by police as Leeland Eisenberg, walked in.
"My back was to the door and the gentleman walked in," she said. "At first, no one noticed him. He was quiet for a second."
She said the man opened up his jacket, told them he had a bomb and to get on the floor.
She made eye contact with him so she would know what he looked like, then looked down.
"It was too much to take in," she said. "The staffers asked him to let me go because I had the baby," 7-month-old Fionian, she said.
It took the man a second to respond, she said. "He told me to 'Just go, just go.' "
She fled with her baby, ran to the medical supply store next door, and said a crazed man with a bomb had taken over the office.
Police arrested Eisenberg, 46, peacefully more than five hours later and charged him with kidnapping and other charges, all felonies.
The bomb turned out to be road flares.
"To me, it's real until proven otherwise," said Trafton-McCauley.
She said the hours waiting for the other hostages to be released were "full of mixed emotions."
She said meeting later that night with Clinton was comforting.
"She just wanted to make sure we're OK," she said.
She said she has mixed feelings about the man who took them hostage.
"You could tell that he needed help," she said.
But she said he made his plea in a horrible way.
"I believe he's getting what he deserves," she said, "but I also think he deserves to be helped."
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
