On October third, a woman with a small child in her car attempted to breach a security checkpoint at the White House. Police chased the woman through the streets of Washington DC, ending up at the Capitol Hill, where policemen shot and killed the woman. She struck a police vehicle with her car before she was stopped. The one year old child in the vehicle was unharmed according to police.
The incident raised alarms due to the recent shooting at the navy yard which left twelve people dead.
The woman, Miriam Carey, was a 34 year old dental hygienist from Stamford, CT and was the registered owner of the vehicle in question. Â She was pursued for 1.7 miles by secret service officers and uniform policemen before being shot. Capitol police said that there does not appear to be an immediate terrorist link, although Capitol police chief Cathy Lanier said “I’m pretty confident this was not an accident”. The Capitol building was put under lockdown and government officials were told to stay sheltered in their offices until Carey was stopped.
Police fired their weapons twice during the chase, both times in areas filled with tourists. They finally caught up with Carey outside the Hart Senate office building on Maryland Avenue and Second Street NE. The woman’s car was stuck and officers fired shots. Authorities have said that the woman was not armed.
This incident comes at an especially low point for the city, coming so soon after the aforementioned Navy Yard shootings and a government shutdown. However, law enforcement said that the incident shows the success of the security measures enacted around the city since 9/11.
