On November 30, 2007 an unidentified hostage taker took over the Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire (NH).
The Clinton campaign released a statement saying:
There is an ongoing situation in our Rochester, NH office. We are in close contact with state and local authorities and are acting at their direction. We will release additional details as appropriate.
A woman who escaped, Lettie Tzizik, rushed into a neighboring store and shouted,
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
The man was described as in his 40s with salt-and-pepper hair. There were snipers on the roofs of businesses near the Clinton campaign to target the hostage taker should he emerge. Senator Hillary Clinton was not at the office. She canceled a planned appearance at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting.
The man, Lee Eisenberg, released the last of the hostages as the afternoon wore on, and was finally arrested.
Hillary Clinton said outside her Washington home:
I am very grateful that this difficult day has ended so well. All of my campaign staff are safe. I want to thank them for their extraordinary courage and coolness under some very difficult pressures and dangerous situations.
In response to the situation, Senator Barack Obama’s campaign immediately evacuated its own Rochester campaign office.
Rochester is said to be a gritty working class town that has been in decline for several years. It is located just north of Dover on New Hampshire’s sea coast.