Reporter Dan Gorenstein is in Rochester with the latest details on the hostage stuation. He spoke with NHPR's Xenia Piaseckyj.
NHPR's coverage of this event was named 2007 Best Breaking News by the New Hampshire Associated Press Broadcasters Association.
Piaseckyj: As NPR and NHPR have been reporting throughout the afternoon, several volunteers working at Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters in downtown Rochester were taken hostage today by a man reportedly armed and strapped with an explosive device. For the latest on this story NHPR's Dan Gorenstein joins us now live from Rochester. For those listeners just tuning in, could you please recap what happened today?
Gorenstein: The report I've gotten is sometime in the noon hour, police began going door to door on Main Street to the different business storefronts asking people to evacuate - hair shops, restaurants, what have you.
Sometime around 1, Main Street was shut down and police began to take steps to begin to communicate with the hostage taker.
Piaseckyj: And what happened from there?
Gorenstein: After that there was a squad car - an armored car rolled down Main Street, the street was empty apart from a couple of parked cars, and were speaking over a loudphone, saying things like "Do not do anything rash, we're just trying to hand you a phone." That went on for about two or three minutes.
About four minutes after that one of the troopers who was dressed in camouflage gear and riot-like looking gear - he had a shield, a visor - came walking very quickly with a woman who appeared to be in her twenties, a green sweater - they put her in a sedan and rushed her away.
Since then not much has happened. It seems like there's some sort of negotiation is going on. Reporters are anxiously awaiting a press conference from police to see whether or not in fact there is another hostage or not. There have been conflicting media reports, there's a lot of confusion here in Rochester.
Piaseckyj: So you saw one hostage leave. Any word about anybody else?
Gorenstein: At this point there is not any word about anybody else. I did speak with one government state official, who said he believes there is one hostage but he could not confirm that. That's the best information I can get right now.
Piaseckyj: You've also been talking to the owner of a restaurant that's across the street from the Clinton campaign office. What did he tell you?
Gorenstein: He told me, as did a waitress who works for him a story - apparently the stepson of the hostage taker came in and said that his stepfather has been drinking for the past two or three days, and from what we're learning from local people on the ground, this is a man who has a history of mental illness in the community and is somewhat well known for having mental problems.
Piaseckyj: The man who is suspected of being the hostage taker?
Gorenstein: That's right.
Piaseckyj: And what do you expect to learn from this news conference that you're awaiting?
Gorenstein: Hopefully we're going to find out if we can confirm or not if the police are negotiating with the hostage taker, whether he is in the Clinton campaign office alone or if he is with a hostage, that's probably the first and most important thing we want to know, we want to know about the safety and well being of any of the hostages, if there are any.
Piaseckyj: And what is the scene in downtown Rochester right now?
Gorenstein: The press conference is about two blocks away from downtown Rochester, but looking out the window I can see flashing blue lights, the blue lights are in any direction you go, but I can't tell you exactly what's happening on Main Street. But there's local police cars all around, there's state police cars all around, there's fire, there's emergency vehicles - clearly the town is on some sort of shutdown.
Piaseckyj: Dan, thank you for the latest.
Gorenstein: Thank you Xenia.
