Hostages taken at campaign office.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2007-11-30 01:59pm

An armed man took people hostage Friday at a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign office in New Hampshire, police said.

The incident happened at about 1 p.m. Friday at 28 North Main St. in Rochester. Officials said that a man is holding people hostage at the office, but it is unclear how many people are being held.

There are several police officers positioned across the street from the office, crouched down behind cruisers with guns drawn, according to a reported at the scene.

Nearby businesses have been evacuated, and the St. Elizabeth Seaton School has been locked down.

Clinton, who is not in New Hampshire, is attending a National Democratic Committee meeting in Virginia.

NewsCenter 5 and TheBostonChannel.com will have more information when it becomes available.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2007-11-30 02:06pm

And in the commentary of the CNN thread, this devolves into more ridiculous mudslinging instead of the hostage crisis that this is.

This woman will bring chaos in this country as you can see it has just started. Can not stand her!
Posted By Nameless,Iowa : November 30, 2007 1:47 pm

This is a general announcement to the fucking media and to wannabe pundits. Keep your politics out of this situation unless its relevant. Fuck!

Anyone seen anything more detailed? Like what this hostage taker is armed with and what the hell his intentions are?

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-11-30 02:18pm

Wow, an intolerant idiot from Iowa. Shocking.

I just hope this is some random insane fucktard and not some politically motivated nutjob.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2007-11-30 02:19pm

Flagg wrote:Wow, an intolerant idiot from Iowa. Shocking.

There are a lot of intolerant idiots, but you might surprised how politically divided between red and blue that state can be.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2007-11-30 03:10pm

More

BOSTON -- A man claiming to have a bomb took two workers hostage Friday at a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign office in New Hampshire, police said.

The man had what appeared to be a bomb strapped to himself when he walked inside the Democrat's office at about 1 p.m. Friday at 28 North Main St. in Rochester, according to Bill Shaheen, a top state campaign official.

Two campaign workers and a woman and child were inside the office at the time. The hostage-taker, described as a man in his 40s with salt-and-pepper hair, ordered the workers to the ground and let the woman and child out of the building.

A young woman with a 6-month or 8-month-old infant came rushing into the store just in tears, and she said, '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," witness Lettie Tzizik said.

Clinton, who is not in New Hampshire, was attending a National Democratic Committee meeting in Virginia, where she canceled her address because of the hostage situation.

"There is an ongoing situation in our Rochester, N.H. office. We are in close contact with state and local authorities and are acting at their direction," an official from Clinton's campaign said in statement.

There are several police officers positioned across the street from the office, crouched down behind cruisers with guns drawn, according to a reporter at the scene.

"There are sharp shooters on the roof, and police are negotiating with someone in the building," said another witness, who did not want to be identified. "The police are notifying all the business owners on the street to evacuate. There are fire trucks behind the Hillary Clinton office."

"I walked out and I immediately started running, and I saw that the road was blocked off. They told me run and keep going," said Cassandra Hamilton, who works in an office adjacent to the building.

Nearby businesses have been evacuated, and the St. Elizabeth Seaton School has been locked down. Several elementary and middle schools in the area also locked their doors in what officials called a "soft lockdown." Children at the McLelland School, Maple Street School and William Allen School were only being released directly to their parents.

"We are all disappointed that this would happen in our city. We are a quiet, friendly city," Rochester Mayor John Larochelle.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama also has an office in Rochester, and it has been evacuated. Staff members in John Edwards' office, which is a few buildings away, were also evacuated. There were no reports of any injuries.

NewsCenter 5 and TheBostonChannel.com will have more information when it becomes available.

Two hostages, guy inside has a bomb.

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2007-11-30 03:12pm

yeah, just heard about this on the news here. Here's hoping its resolved without anyone doing anything (more) daft.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2007-11-30 03:39pm

Two hostages have been freed, so I guess that's the hostages out?

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2007-11-30 03:47pm

LadyTevar wrote:Two hostages have been freed, so I guess that's the hostages out?

If that is the case then maybe we will be lucky and this guy just wants to get some attention without hurting anyone. He possibly picked his target just so he stands out from other people who have done the same things at more obscure venues, this is a really easy way to stay on the national spotlight.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2007-11-30 03:47pm

This is only the beginning. After the way Hillary was made out to literally be the anti-christ in conservative Christian circles in the 1990s, I wouldn't be surprised if there will be more incidents like this and if she wins the nomination that there are dozens more like this. If she's elected President they might as well start planning to have the inaugeration defended by a division or two of Marine infantry.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2007-11-30 03:49pm

LadyTevar wrote:Two hostages have been freed, so I guess that's the hostages out?

I think the two freed was the woman and infant in the story, and there's still two inside.

Jadeite · Post by **Jadeite** » 2007-11-30 05:17pm

Whether is a real bomb or a fake, hopefully this man ends up gunned down by police. Those who attempt to hijack the democratic process, and worse, endanger others, must be made examples of.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-11-30 06:30pm

Flagg wrote:Wow, an intolerant idiot from Iowa. Shocking.

Our state is odd. The cities are pretty progressive but as you go out into the country you might as well be in a couple hundred miles South.

I'm surprised they have internet access wherever they're posting from.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2007-11-30 06:41pm

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:This is only the beginning. After the way Hillary was made out to literally be the anti-christ in conservative Christian circles in the 1990s, I wouldn't be surprised if there will be more incidents like this and if she wins the nomination that there are dozens more like this. If she's elected President they might as well start planning to have the inaugeration defended by a division or two of Marine infantry.

That actually makes me think about something I remembering reading in the NY Times about questioning black women voters in the South. I remember one of the things they were worried about was that they were almost certain that if Obama really became a contender for President, "they'd" kill him.

It's overall rather creepy, though - and definitely not something the Clinton campaign would want, since it might make people a little more wary of volunteering for them at said campaign headquarters. Then again, since its only one incident, probably not much more will come of it except for more security efforts.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2007-11-30 06:46pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote: I'm surprised they have internet access wherever they're posting from.

High Speed DSL with par tof the network supporting that mounted on top of grain elevators.

One day my dad was standing in his front yard (Clarion, Iowa, population >3000) and he saw the fireball from the grain elevator outside of town, cursed to himself, and ran inside to find out that his internet connection was as gone as the silo. The only story I love more than that is the old copy of the Fort Dodge Messenger that I have where the a giant bin full of corn had a wall bust wide open and a whole heap of corn piled into this family's house. The picture of the garage full of corn was just too funny for words.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2007-11-30 06:47pm

It seems to be over.[/url]

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2007-11-30 08:36pm

I wonder how many points her campaign will get a boost from this, also does this mean we can start sending the fundy and klan type terrorists to federal prisons?

Melchior · Post by **Melchior** » 2007-12-01 07:44am

Jadeite wrote:Whether is a real bomb or a fake, hopefully this man ends up gunned down by police. Those who attempt to hijack the democratic process, and worse, endanger others, must be made examples of.

Like the Diebold board of directors, you mean? Or due process should exist only when there aren't any trigger happy policemen around?

Andrew_Fireborn · Post by **Andrew_Fireborn** » 2007-12-02 06:03pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:I wonder how many points her campaign will get a boost from this, also does this mean we can start sending the fundy and klan type terrorists to federal prisons?

That's my thought on the mess...

It's something that she arranged to show that people are afraid of her. So she can start looking 'tough on terror' to the simple folks. Especially since the 'bomb' turned out to be a bunch of road flares...

But that's just me... I'd vote for any of the other potential Democrats, but she panders way too much for my tastes.

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2007-12-02 11:46pm

Some part of me says "Sure, she might do something like that to boost her support. Oh what a sad world this is." But another part of me says "If they arranged this, they probably would have used real explosive and not road flares."

And now, my train of thought says "If they used real explosive, the guy could have actually blown the place up." And also, who would they have picked to do it?