After subduing the chaos that streaked from the White House to Capitol Hill, law enforcement authorities can finally pin a name to the woman who so erratically attempted to drive her car through barrier fences and police cruisers, sending two officers to the hospital.
Miriam Carey, 34, has been identified as the woman who allegedly attempted to bust through a gate near the White House in her black Infinity coup, sparking a chase by Secret Service and U.S. Capitol Police that ended in her being shot to death near the the Capitol Hill.
But why?
Why was this woman, a young dental hygienist who called Stamford, CT, home, so intent on causing some kind of destruction in the District of Columbia?
According to Metro PD and Capitol Hill Police, who, by the way, were working without pay due to the ongoing government shutdown, Carey suffered from “mental illness.” According to her mother Idella, she suffered from post-partum depression after delivering her 1-year old daughter Erica in August 2012.
Around 2:30 p.m. ET yesterday, Twitter exploded with innumerable 140 character chirps of information from tourists, citizens, and even those hunched in their respective chambers engaged in the Congressional tug-of-war to keep our government funded.
Eyewitness accounts, amateur photographs, and video footage then began to help piece together a still-dreary picture of what happened.
Check out the video of the White House to Capitol Hill car chase right here:
Still to be determined, though, is Carey’s motive behind her pursuit throughout the streets of Washington. Eerily, police are saying that Carey was unarmed.
According to the Associated Press, Carey’s mother made it abundantly clear that “her daughter had ‘no history of violence’ and she didn’t know why she was in Washington on Thursday. She said she thought Carey was taking Erica to a doctor’s appointment in Connecticut.”
That being duly noted, it appears signs of a breakdown or some kind of deterioration may have begun last winter, already submersed in the bitter throes of post-partum depression. Carey’s boyfriend was apparently so struck by her despair that he “contacted police in December saying he feared for the safety of their child… [saying] the woman was acting delusional, claiming the president had placed Stamford under lockdown and that her house was under electronic surveillance.”
He further corroborated Carey’s mother’s account of her suffering from the maternal form of depression, adding that “Carey underwent a mental health evaluation.”
Still, there’s been no validation as to why she kickstarted the deadly car chase and what her intentions actually were. Stay tuned for the latest details from BostInno as we’ll be sure to keep you updated once more details are made publicly available.
