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Suspect in Trouble Before Hostage Drama

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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: December 1, 2007

Filed at 9:14 a.m. ET

ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- Leeland Eisenberg was already in trouble before he
walked into one of Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton's campaign offices. Three days earlier, his wife had filed
for divorce; he was due to appear in court with her for a domestic violence
hearing in about half an hour.

Then, the nicely dressed, gray-haired man peeled open his jacket to reveal
what looked like dynamite strapped to his chest, authorities said, and things
got much worse.

Police say Eisenberg went to the office Friday demanding to talk to Clinton
about helping him get mental health care and ended up taking at least five
people, including an infant, hostage. Night would fall before the last one
walked free and the hostage-taker peacefully surrendered.

In the meantime, downtown shops, restaurants and homes were evacuated, and
nearby schools were placed on lockdown until students could be rushed away on
buses.

Authorities said a state police negotiator spoke to the hostages, and then to
Eisenberg, eventually persuading him to give up. Shortly after 6 p.m., the
suspect walked out of the storefront office, put down a package and was
immediately surrounded by SWAT team officers with guns drawn. They put him on
the ground and handcuffed him.

The package was not dynamite, but rather road flares duct-taped to
Eisenburg's body that were made to look even more realistic by a separate
detonator, said Col. Frederick Booth, commander of the New Hampshire State
Police.

Clinton, in the Washington area during the day, traveled to New Hampshire
Friday night to meet with the hostages, their families and police.

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 Friday, as did her husband, former
President Bill
Clinton, but she planned to campaign as scheduled in Iowa on Saturday.

''He was someone that was not known to my campaign headquarters until he
walked in the door today,'' Clinton said at a late-night news conference in
Portsmouth. ''It appears that he is someone who is in need of help and sought
attention in absolutely the wrong way.''

Rochester police Chief David DuBois said Eisenberg was being held on state
charges of kidnapping and reckless conduct, and that federal charges were being
considered.

Eisenberg had a hostage call CNN three times and spoke to network staffers
during the standoff, CNN reported after the ordeal was over and all the hostages
were safe. Eisenberg said he wanted help getting psychiatric care, but had been
turned away because he didn't have the money.

''I need to speak to Hillary Clinton,'' CNN quoted him as saying.
''Something's got to change. Ordinary people need help'' with their
insurance.

The network described Eisenberg as ''well-spoken, articulate and impassioned
about his cause,'' but said he became increasingly agitated and laced his third
phone call with profanities.

About two hours after Eisenberg let a woman with a baby go, at least one
other woman escaped from the office; two other hostages made it out later, the
last about half an hour before Eisenberg surrendered, police said.

Soon afterward, police maneuvered a robot to the road flares and triggered an
explosion to destroy them.

Eisenberg had been 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 he had been arrested and charged with
criminal mischief, domestic related, and violating a protective order, the
newspaper reported. In the papers, Eisenberg's wife said he abused drugs and
alcohol and subjected her to severe verbal abuse and threats.

A man who said he was Mrs. Eisenberg's son declined comment Friday night.

Eisenberg also was arrested at least twice earlier this year, once for
allegedly driving under the influence and once on two counts of stalking. The
status of those cases was not immediately clear.

Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Correction,
said a Leeland E. Eisenberg with the same 1961 birth date as the suspect was
released from the state prison in Concord, Mass., in March 2005 when he
completed his sentence. She would not give details about the nature of his
offense or length of his sentence.

Eisenberg made local headlines in March when he held a news conference on the
steps of Rochester City Hall to complain about a police policy of placing fliers
in unlocked cars warning motorists to lock their doors.

''This is nothing more than a gimmick to get around the Constitution and go
around in the middle of the night upon unsuspecting citizens in their own yard
and search their vehicles,'' he said at the time.

Police, who said they were just trying to reduce theft from motor vehicles,
changed the policy in response.

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