ROCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Police took into custody a man they say walked into Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire, and took several people hostage Friday.
Police in New Hampshire take the hostage taker into custody Friday evening. more photos »
The man, Lee Eisenberg, claimed to have a bomb strapped to his chest, but it turned out to be road flares held with duct tape, police said.
"He was someone who was not known to my campaign headquarters until he walked in the door today," Clinton said Friday evening in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she met with the hostages and their families.
"It appears he is someone who was in need of help and sought attention in absolutely the wrong way," she said. "It was for me and my campaign an especially tense and difficult day."
Flanked by local police, Clinton expressed her gratitude to the team that resolved the hostage situation.
"I want to thank them for their professionalism and their extraordinary work today," she said. "We're immensely relieved that this has ended peacefully."
Clinton also praised her staffers for showing courage and handling the situation "extraordinarily well."
She said she doesn't expect any changes to her schedule or her campaign in light of the incident.
The situation began when Eisenberg walked into the office at about 1 p.m., Maj. Michael Hambrook of the New Hampshire State Police told CNN affiliate WMUR-TV. Watch police take up positions »
On Friday afternoon, one of the hostages contacted the CNN Washington bureau and then put Eisenberg on the phone.
The hostage and Eisenberg called CNN multiple times throughout the afternoon and talked to CNN staffers.
Eisenberg said he had mental problems and couldn't get anyone to help him. CNN assumed Eisenberg could be watching CNN's broadcast and chose not to report his calls to avoid compromising the safety of the hostages.
Several people were caught up at the start of the hostage situation. See the location of the office »
A woman with a baby was released by the hostage-taker early on, she told a witness, Lettie Tzizik, who spoke to WMUR. See photos of the hostage situation »
"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,' " the Web site reported.
Bill Shaheen, chairman of Clinton's New Hampshire campaign, told WMUR the people held were volunteers.
Clinton, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, was scheduled to speak at 3 p.m. at a Democratic National Committee event, but canceled the talk because of the situation, DNC Chairman Howard Dean said. Watch Dean break the news »
Buildings close to the storefront campaign office on Main Street were evacuated, including local campaign centers for Clinton's Democratic presidential rivals, Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards.
Cassandra Hamilton, who works in an office adjacent to the Clinton office, told WMUR: "I walked out and I immediately started running, and I saw that the road was blocked off. They told me run and keep going." E-mail to a friend
CNN's Kelly Marshall contributed to this report.
Map highlighting location of Rochester. 
A man claiming to have had a bomb is reported by WMUR to have surrendered peacefully at the campaign office of Senator Hillary Clinton in the small New Hampshire city of Rochester.

Three individuals, which includes a child, were taken hostage and were later released without injury. Earlier reports stated that there might have been a fourth hostage. The adults are said to be campaign employees.

The hostage taker is being named by media as Leeland Eisenberg from Somersworth, N.H., a white male in his "40s with salt and pepper hair" and is known to police by prior incidents which includes family issues and he is also reported to have a history of emotional and mental health problems. According to the son of the hostage taker, he talked to a witness and said his father had been drinking last night and strapped road flares to his chest and said he was going to talk to Senator Clinton.

WMUR cameras captured on live TV an armored car pulling up in front of the office and shortly after Leeland was seen walking out of the building, dropped something on the ground and surrendered to police. It is said that Leeland believed the U.S. government "is coming after him" and that there was a conspiracy to have him caught. Leeland has been taken to the local police station in Rochester.

After the scene was evacuated of all hostages and the suspect, police used a robot to examine the reported device or bomb that Leeland was said to have.

According to the DNC chairman Howard Dean, Senator Clinton has cancelled a speech at a Democratic National Committee meeting in Vienna, Virginia and all other events today to deal with the situation. Her husband, former US President Bill Clinton canceled a speech in New York City. Senators Barack Obama and John Edwards also have campaign offices down the street which have been closed and locked down along with the rest of downtown Rochester. Clinton's campaign offices located in Des Moines, Iowa have also been closed on a temporary basis.

"Unfortunately as some of you know, there is a hostage situation in New Hampshire involving a Clinton campaign staff person. The details are sketchy at this time, but understandably Sen. Clinton is now dealing with this very difficult problem and she is not going to be able to join us today. And we will keep them in our prayers and hope for a resolution to this situation in New Hampshire," said Dean at a press conference.

The incident began at around 1:00 p.m. (eastern time).