Rochester Hostage Suspect To Be Arraigned

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Hirsh-Dickinson: Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton flew into Portsmouth last night to thank the law enforcement officials who helped resolve the hostage taking at her campaign office in Rochester.

Our coverage began yesterday afternoon when a middle-aged man walked into the Rochester office. He said he had a bomb and told the campaign workers to lie down on the floor. NHPR's Dan Gorenstein was in Rochester throughout the day and he joins me now. Dan, can you tell us what happened in the final hour or so of the standoff?

Gorenstein: Sure, good morning, Sally. By about 5 pm last night there were two hostages left. Earlier in the day one woman and her baby had been released; around 3 o'clock in the afternoon one of the hostages ran for it on her own accord, after police had dropped off a cell phone so they were able to communicate with Mr. Eisenberg.

And so at 5 o'clock there were two hostages and police were negotiating with him. He had apparently asked for cigarettes, a Pepsi and alcohol, and was given the cigarettes, and ultimately first released a young woman, and later released a young man, the final hostage. Then, Mr. Eisenberg was in the campaign office for about 15 minutes and came out of his own accord and gave himself over to police.

Hirsh-Dickinson: And by all accounts there were no injuries or no harm was done to any of the hostages?

Gorenstein: By all accounts no one was injured; certainly eyewitnesses who saw the hostages leave were visibly distraught, but apparently no physical harm was done.

Hirsh-Dickinson: What do we know about the suspect and what will happen to him next?

Gorenstein: Mr. Eisenberg is in Rochester police custody right now. He will either be arraigned today or Monday. He is facing mutiple charges - he could be serving as much as 21 years in prison. It's unclear exactly what will happen - he also could face federal charges in addition to state charges.

But Mr. Eisenberg has a history of mental illness, mental problems. He's known to the Rochester police. According to Foster's Daily Democrat he has been arrested for stalking, he's been arrested twice for driving while intoxicated, and according to court documents there's a lawsuit in 2002 that he filed saying that he was abused by a violent, alcoholic father. He lived in abandoned cars, he was taken in by Catholic priests who he says molested and raped him, he tried to commit suicide.

But I think the story that almost says it best that reporters were told sometime in the middle of the afternoon yesterday - according to Mr. Eisenberg's stepson, he was drinking, he had been on a bender for 72 hours, he was getting a divorce, he was very distraught, and people in town seemed to know him. He was one of those characters that always is having problems.

Hirsh-Dickinson: Do we know any particular reason why he would have targeted Hillary Clinton's campaign?

Gorenstein: We don't - police were quite terse about this point, but he walked in, he said he wanted to speak with Hillary Clinton, but much beyond that is not known at this time.

Hirsh-Dickinson: The primary is just five weeks away. Will this color Hillary Clinton's campaign?

Gorenstein: That's impossible to say. Certainly the Hillary Clinton campaign doesn't think so. She's quoted in this morning's papers saying it's not going to change anything - Hillary Clinton stopped all campaign events yesterday, on Friday, flew late night into New Hampshire, is speaking in New Hampshire today, that is certainly a change of plans.

And another piece to add in is that when international reporters called in asking about this, they wanted to know whether or not this had anything to do with Hillary Clinton because she's a controversial figure. So there's certainly a notion out there that Hillary Clinton is controversial and what does this mean. That is unknown and reporters are asking themselves that question also, so we'll see with a few weeks to go.

Hirsh-Dickinson: Thank you so much Dan.

Gorenstein: Thank you Sally.