Yesterday (Friday) afternoon a man walked into Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, NH and took 5 people hostage.
According to CNN.com, the man was 46-year-old Leeland Eisenberg.
Eisenberg claimed he would blow himself up with the bomb he allegedly had strapped to his chest if he did not meet Hillary Clinton.
The bomb was actually road flares stuck together with duct tape.
Mrs. Clinton was not at the Rochester office at the time. She was in Washington, DC preparing to give a speech. Due to the crisis, Clinton cancelled all of her appointments for the day.
Five hours later, all hostages were released, including the small child. Rochester's SWAT team took the man into custody.
BBC News reported that Barack Obama and John Edward's campaign offices were both evacuated for security reasons.
Police evacuated more than 20 buildings and locked down a school in the area.
Police say that Eisenberg has a history of mental illness.
He told his stepson "to watch the news" that day.
Today, Clinton met with the hostages and praised them for their courage.
"I want to thank them for their professionalism and their extraordinary work today," she said to CNN.com. "We're immensely relieved that this has ended peacefully.
Clinton told the media that no further changes are expected in her schedule.
Reports on NBC's Nightly News last night said that Clinton was not allowed to speak with the man during the time he was holding citizens hostage, as she is not a certified crisis negotiator and could have said something to endanger the lives of not only her staff, but the people visiting her office.
MSNBC.com interestingly reports in the second graphs of their story that Eisenberg was to appear in court for a domestic violence hearing a half-hour after taking over the office.
(as a sidenote: CNN reportedly talked to Eisenberg on 3 occasions. He reportedly told them that he had a mental illness but could not get the care he needed. They refused to help him get in contact with Clinton--wise move. They did report the calls to police, but did not report ON them until after he surrendered at 6p.m. in order to not jeopardize the hostages.)
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