The hostage siege that took place in former First Lady Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, Hew Hampshire, ended with the suspect arrested by the police on Friday.?
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A frame grab from television news helicopter video footage shows police outside the Hillary Clinton local campaign headquarters during a hostage situation at the building in Rochester, New Hampshire, Nov. 30, 2007.?? |
The suspect, identified by police as Leeland Eisenberg, surrendered to the police by walking out of the storefront office, holding out his hands and lying on the ground. A CNN live report showed the suspect was handcuffed by the police and taken to a police vehicle.?
The man, claiming to be carrying an explosive device strapped on his chest, walked into the simple storefront office shortly before 1600 GMT and took hostage of an unknown number of people working inside the office.?
During the standoff which lasted over five hours, the suspect first released a woman and her baby, then released the hostages one after another. With the last hostage released, Eisenberg surrendered to the police.?
According to local media, Eisenberg, who is believed to have mental and family problems, has demanded to speak to Hillary Clinton.?
Authorities believe that the device Eisenburg had strapped to his chest was made with road flares, not a bomb.?
Local reports said Eisenburg made local headlines in March when he held a news conference on the steps of Rochester City Hall to complain about a police policy.?
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Hillary Clinton [Xinhua file photo] |
Hillary Clinton was in the Washington D.C. area when the incident occurred. But the confrontation brought her campaign to a standstill just five weeks before the New Hampshire primary, which is one of the first tests of the presidential campaign season.?
After the incident, Hillary Clinton cancelled her presence at the fall conference of the Democratic National Committee in Vienna, Virginia, where other presidential candidates delivered speech one by one.?
(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2007)
