Man held in US hostage drama
Hillary Clinton is the Democrat party's presidential frontrunner
Also In The News
|
Directed by Andrew Dominik, out November 30th, starring Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, running time 160 minutes. |  |
Saturday, 01, Dec 2007 09:56
A hostage situation at a campaign office of US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has been brought to a peaceful end.
A man, with fake explosives strapped around his vest, had held several people hostage inside the building in Rochester, New Hampshire, and was demanding to speak to Ms Clinton.
The wife of former president Bill Clinton was not present at the site at the time and the hostage taker, identified as local resident Leeland Eisenberg, 46, held citizens and volunteers present at the office in order to meet his demands.
Several hours later he surrendered himself to police and released hostages who were still in his custody. None of the captives suffered injuries during the ordeal.
Police and law-enforcement officers surrounded the site and closed other buildings in the area as reports of the situation emerged. Mr Eisenberg made calls to television station CNN during the drama telling reporters that he suffered from a mental illness and was unable to get treatment.
Upon hearing the news, Ms Clinton cancelled her scheduled appearance in Virginia and flew to New Hampshire.
Speaking to reporters after the end of the drama, she said it had been a "tense and difficult day" for her campaign but said she would keep scheduled engagements and not let the incident disrupt her schedule.
The wife of former president Bill Clinton said she was glad that no one was injured in the area and said she would get in touch with those affected.
New Hampshire is scheduled to hold a presidential primary in January which forms a crucial early part of efforts to select the presidential candidates to represent the Democrat party.