Man Takes Hostages in NH Clinton Office

I bolded the updates.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22043358/



MSNBC staff and news service reports
updated 13 minutes ago
ROCHESTER, N.H. - A man claiming to have a bomb walked in to Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign offices Friday and took hostages, police and witnesses said.
The man initially released two hostages, a woman and a child. A second woman was later freed, and some news reports said a third woman was released as well.
It was unclear how many hostages remained.
The man had what appeared to be a bomb strapped to himself, said Bill Shaheen, a top Clinton state campaign official. "Hopefully, they're going to negotiate this so no one gets hurt," Shaheen told WMUR-TV in Rochester.
WNBC-TV in New York quoted law enforcement sources as saying the man wanted to speak with Clinton.
The man, who was not identified by name, is known to local authorities and has behaved erratically in the past, a source told NBC News' Pete Williams. The source, who was not identified, told Williams the man went to a local hardware store earlier Friday, where he apparently bought some of the material he wore into the campaign office.
Clinton, who was in Washington, D.C., canceled a speaking engagement and was meeting with staffers.
She did not respond publicly to the reported demands, but her campaign issued this statement: "We are in close contact with state and local authorities and are acting at their direction. We will release additional details as appropriate."
Witnesses described the white male as in his 40s with salt-and-pepper hair.
WMUR-TV quoted a woman, Lettie Tzizik, saying she spoke to someone who said she had just been released by the man.
"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.'"
Police surrounded the building, evacuated the immediate area and placed other buildings, including a nearby school, under lockdown.
"There are sharpshooters on the roof, and police are negotiating with someone in the building," another witness told WMUR-TV. "There are fire trucks behind the Hillary Clinton office."
State and local officials were in charge of the situation, and federal help had not been requested, NBC's Pete William reported. As a result, neither the FBI nor the Secret Service were participating.
Workers for Sen. Barack Obama's campaign office in Rochester also were evacuated, a campaign spokesman said. The office is four doors away from Clinton's. Staffers in John Edwards' office, a few buildings away, evacuated as well.
Located 75 miles north of Boston in neighboring Massachusetts, Rochester is home to 30,117 people and the site of one of 16 of Clinton's offices in the state, according to Clinton's campaign Web site.

Hostage Taker at Clinton Office Surrenders
Hostage Taker at Clinton Office Surrenders -- Local Media Had Quoted Eisenberg Ripping Cops
By E&P Staff
Published: November 30, 2007 6:10 PM ET

Leeland Eisenberg, who held several campaign workers hostage all afternoon at a Hillary Clinton storefront in Rochester, N.H., surrendered to police at 6:15 this evening. Cable news caught the arrest as it happened, with Lee Eisenberg, in a white shirt and tie, emerging, going to his knees, getting handcuffed and taken to a police car.

No one was hurt in the entire affair. Three or four hostages had been released over time.

Police and the media have suggested that the man who took the hostages has had "issues" with local law enforcement. E&P has found one specific case involving the local man, who reputedly has some mental problems.

Back on March 16 this year, local media reported on
Rochester police coming up with a novel idea for fighting auto theft. But some residents -- including Eisenberg -- were outraged at their plan.

The plan: checking car doors, and if unlocked, leaving behind a warning flyer.

"It's an outrage, it's an absolute outrage," said Eisenberg in one report. He claimed the intrusion into his Chevy violates the Fourth Amendment, and raised such a fuss that his picture appeared in a local newspaper.

"That's a crime. They violated my civil rights and the rights of many citizens in this city that are not even aware of it," said Eisenberg, who was now asking state and federal authorities to investigate the Rochester police.

Eisenberg said he thinks police searched his car illegally, because it was clean when he parked it for the night and dirty with ash from the ashtray the next morning, when he found the flier.

He said he complained to the state attorney general, the governor and the U.S. attorney.

Police later said they were re-thinking the idea.

Foster's Daily Democrat reported late today: "Eisenberg, of 7 Brook Drive in Somersworth, was scheduled to appear at Strafford County Superior Court at 1:30 p.m. today with his wife Lisa (Warren) Eisenberg for a final domestic violence hearing. Court officials were unable to provide the domestic complaint filed against Eisenberg.

"Divorce papers filed on Nov. 27 indicated Eisenberg was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, domestic related, and violation of a protective order. In the papers, Warren said the divorce was a result irreconcilable differences and complained that Eisenberg suffered from "severe alcohol and drug abuse, several verbal abuse and threats."