United States Capitol shooting incident (2013)

On October 3, 2013, in Washington, D.C., Miriam Carey, 34, a dental hygienist from Stamford, Connecticut, attempted to drive through a White House security checkpoint in her black Infiniti G37 coupe, struck a U.S. Secret Service officer, and was chased by the Secret Service to the United States Capitol where she was fatally shot by law enforcement officers. A young child, Carey's daughter, was found unharmed in the car after it was ultimately stopped.^[2]

White House incident and police response

At about 2:12 p.m., a vehicle driven by Miriam Carey allegedly struck one of the White House barriers at the intersection of 15th St. NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.^[3] At 2:13 p.m. she drove into a well-marked, restricted White House checkpoint at 15th and E Streets NW, without authorization and without stopping, refused to stop when two uniformed Secret Service officers told her to. When an off-duty U.S. Secret Service officer placed a metal bike rack in her path to block her exit, she struck the bike rack and the off-duty Secret Service officer who was standing behind it with her car, knocking both the bike rack and the officer onto the ground.^[4] Secret Service attempted to arrest the suspect but she continued to drive the car evasively, colliding with one officer who fell on the hood of the car and rolled off.^[5][6] Carey then drove 40–80 mph down Pennsylvania Avenue, weaving through traffic and ignoring red lights. Police gave chase east on Pennsylvania Avenue for a dozen blocks. The chase then proceeded south on 1st St. NW/SW between Peace Circle and Garfield traffic circle.

At Garfield Circle, uniformed and plain clothes Secret Service officers attempted to box the car in with at least five marked vehicles and one unmarked cruiser, on United States Capitol grounds, on the sidewalk on the east side of the circle. Four uniformed and two plainclothes officers proceeded to surround the car on foot with guns drawn, shouting orders. Carey eluded the box-in by backing into the Secret Service cruiser behind her and driving away striking a Secret Service officer in the process. The suspect proceeded at high speed north, circling Peace Circle twice and then proceeding east on Constitution Avenue. She got as far as the northeast corner of the Capitol grounds, in the vicinity of the Hart Senate Office Building, where she was forced off the road and stopped near a USCP security hut by the Sewall-Belmont House. During the chase, multiple shots were fired at the car of which five shots hit her from behind including one to the head.^[7]

A shelter in place order was issued for the Capitol building during the incident.^[8]

Subsequent events

Carey was brought to MedStar Washington Hospital Center and pronounced dead. There was an 18-month-old child, believed to be the suspect's daughter, in the back seat of the car. The child was unharmed and taken to Children's Hospital.^[9] The FBI obtained a search warrant and conducted a search of the woman's home in Stamford, Connecticut to try to determine the possible motivation of her actions. As a precaution, a bomb squad robot was used to enter inside Carey's house at 114 Woodside Green.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Aftermath

Both U.S. Capitol Police and Washington DC Metropolitan Police revealed that they believed that the incident was isolated and not part of a terrorist plot.^[14] Miriam Carey's sisters have questioned police actions in this chase.^[15] In February 2014, Carey's family officially filed a wrongful death claim against the US Capitol Police and the Secret Service.^[16] Secret Service has been criticized for its handling of the incident, questioning the use of lethal force for a traffic mixup, citing at least 22 instances in which intruders have successfully breached the White House itself without resulting in a fatality. As of one year after the incident, the official investigative report has not been released, nor has video footage.^[17]

On July 10, 2014, Federal authorities announced that no charges would be filed against the federal officers and agents, stating, "After a thorough review of all the evidence, the U.S. Attorney's Office concluded that the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers who were involved in the shooting used excessive force or possessed the requisite criminal intent at the time of the events."^[18]

Miriam Carey

Miriam Carey (c. 1979 – October 3, 2013) of Stamford, Connecticut was a dental hygienist licensed to practice in New York and Connecticut.^[12][19][20] She was born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. She obtained an associate degree in dental hygiene from Hostos Community College and graduated from Brooklyn College in 2007 with a degree in health nutrition science.^{[10][21][22][23][24]} According to a family spokesman, Carey had previously been hospitalized for postpartum depression.^[25][26] Carey's mother told ABC News that Carey had been depressed since giving birth. Dr. Steven Oken, her boss for eight years, described Carey as a "non-political person" who was "always happy".^[25] On the day of the incident, Carey was supposed to be taking her daughter to a doctor's appointment in Connecticut.^[27] The FBI found two medications in her apartment, as well as a laptop, a flash drive and three nonfunctional cell phones. Federal officials said she may have suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and believed President Barack Obama was communicating with her.^[28][29] Federal officials said no weapons were found in the car.^[30]

Injuries

A Capitol Police officer was injured when his car hit a barricade^[31] during the chase near 1st and Constitution Avenue, and was medevaced by a U.S. Park Police helicopter, call sign "Eagle One" (N22PP), to MedStar Washington Hospital Center with non life-threatening injuries.^[32][33]

A U.S. Secret Service officer was struck by the Infiniti at the White House grounds.^[1][31]

References