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Man Takes Clinton Office Hostage

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By BEVERLEY WANG, The Associated Press

Published: December 1, 2007

ROCHESTER, N.H. - A distraught man wearing what appeared to be a bomb walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday and demanded to speak to the candidate during a hostage drama that dragged on for nearly six hours before he peacefully surrendered.

Shortly after releasing the last of at least four hostages unharmed, 47-year-old Leeland Eisenberg walked out of the storefront office, put down a homemade bomblike package and was immediately surrounded by a SWAT team with guns drawn. Clad in gray slacks, white dress shirt and a red tie, he was put on the ground and handcuffed.

Sen. Clinton was in the Washington area the whole time, but the confrontation brought her campaign to a standstill just five weeks before the New Hampshire primary, one of the first tests of the presidential campaign season. She canceled all appearances, as did her husband, former President Clinton, and the security around her was increased as a precaution.

"Everything stopped, and it had to because we had nothing on our minds except the safety of these young people who work for me," Clinton said shortly after the standoff ended. She said she was "just relieved to have this situation end so peacefully," and that she was headed to New Hampshire to thank law enforcement officials.

According to police, the drama began shortly before 1 p.m., when the man walked into the office and peeled back his jacket to reveal what appeared to be a bomb duct-taped to his chest. He took several hostages, but let a woman with an infant go immediately. At least one other woman got out about two hours later.

Seconds before he surrendered, shortly after 6 p.m., the last hostage walked from the office. The hostage then ran down the street toward the police roadblocks surrounding Clinton's office.

Not long after the surrender, police maneuvered a robot to the hostage-taker's package and triggered an explosion to destroy it.

Witness Lettie Tzizik told television station WMUR of Manchester that she spoke to the woman who was released first and that she was crying, holding the infant.

"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,'" Tzizik said.
SWAT team members, protecting themselves with shields, called to the man over bullhorns and attempted to hand a phone into the office.

CNN reported after Eisenberg surrendered that a woman had called the network from the office and put Eisenberg on the phone. He told CNN he had mental problems and couldn't get anyone to help him. He called the network several times during the standoff.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer said the network called police after hearing from Eisenberg, but did not air those details until Eisenberg surrendered out of concern for hostages' safety.

The office, in a town of 30,000, is one of many Clinton has across New Hampshire. The campaign said the people taken hostage were volunteers.

Eisenberg walked into the office about a half-hour before he was scheduled to appear in Strafford County court with his wife for a domestic violence hearing, according to Foster's Daily Democrat in Dover.

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

Eisenberg also was arrested this year on two counts of stalking. The status of the case was not immediately clear.

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