‘Isolated Incident’ in D.C. Today
UPDATE: Connecticut Woman ‘Had a History of Mental Health Issues’

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Consider this just a place-holder post, really. Some crazy lady went on a vehicular rampage in Washington, D.C., today. She reportedly tried to ram the gates at the White House, then led cops on a chase to Capitol Hill, where she rammed a police car before finally being shot to death. She reportedly had a child in the car with her, and the child was unharmed.

Who was this woman? What was her motive?
this point, I have no clue and don’t want to speculate.

Ace of Spades notices the New York Times trying to connect this incident to the “fiscal crisis,” but it’s silly to imagine that every kook who goes berserk is responding to political events. When I flipped out on psilocybin in 1979, you couldn’t blame the Carter administration.

Becca Lower points out that liberals are blaming this on the government shutdown, as if cops had been furloughed, which they haven’t.

Police are calling it an “isolated incident,” which means it’s likely just a nutjob, and I haven’t seen any headlines yet to suggest a political motive. Rather than try to start speculating or playing the blame game, I’ll just wait for updates. Please link any relevant reports in the comments, or hit me up on Twitter if there’s important developments.

Remember something I’ve said before: Until they ID the suspect, there’s no way to know the motive. Just chill for a bit, and we’ll see.

UPDATE: Well, this didn’t take very long:

A dental hygienist from Connecticut was the female driver who tried to ram her car into a White House barricade and was shot dead near the US Capitol after a high-speed chase through Washington streets Thursday afternoon, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Sources said Miriam Carey, who formerly lived in Brooklyn, was licensed to practice in New York and Connecticut and had a permit to work as a hygienist in Connecticut prisons. . . .
ABC News said the 34-year-old woman had a history of mental health issues. A task force of FBI and Secret Service agents was executing a search warrant at her Connecticut home, CNN said.

Just a crazy woman. Anybody got a photo yet?

(Hat-tip: Mary Fernandez on Twitter.)

UPDATE II: Photo of the deceased perp, Miriam Carey:

UPDATE III: Daily Caller has the liberal ghoul round-up:

Should I have held my tongue? I couldn’t resist:

UPDATE IV: Ace gets pretty brutal here. The, uh, demographic factors are being referenced. As soon as “Capitol shooting” made the headlines, some people imagined this had to be a story about a right-wing Tea Party gun nut. If that had been the case, this story would have gotten wall-to-wall coverage for weeks. Morning Joe would have been a three-hour telethon for gun control Friday morning. Chris Matthews and Piers Morgan would have been blaming the NRA.

But no, it’s just a crazy woman in a car who got shot by the cops, and the media will decide this is not an important story. Move along.

 


175 comments

  1. So I suppose this proves that black women can now be legally hunted down in DC or something.

  6. wonder if it only a isolated incodence because of race..makes you wonder…if it was a white guy or girl they could tie to the tea party, this would be going on for months…

  8. Wapo has the most biographical info on her I’ve seen. The only thing even hinting at mental illness so far (besides today’s events and statements about her history) is a friend’s description of her giving an impression of “arrogance” and having few friends.

    That is common enough personality feature, but happens to also be a trait that is notably typical in some paranoid disorders. I guess we’ll find out her real history later.

  9. You have to be kidding. I too was concerned that the cops might have been overly aggressive with their use of force, but watching the video I’m absolutely impressed with their bravery and the restraint they displayed while she was in front of the White House.

    And disabling a car is nowhere near easy or reliably effective, particularly with handguns, which are all but worthless against the engine and steel belted tires.

  12. Watch that video….they had plenty of opportunities to disable that vehicle….the standard tactic of every other police department in the nation when confronted with crazy drivers.

    I bet you most of those officers are thinking the same thing right now….

    They killed an unarmed crazy lady with a young child. A disabled car and some zoloft would have solved that problem a lot cleaner.

    That is not to say that they weren’t justified in their actions.

  15. Very sad. Too bad life doesn’t promise us all a chance for a do-over when things go spectacularly bad.

  18. What idiot would think it was a Tea party member? If someone was shooting up the capitol during a shutdown, wouldn’t you think it would be someone who was upset by the shutdown? Shutting down part of the government is every Tea party member’s dream. Why would they screw it up?

  21. On the CNN website, they have video footage provided by -get this- an Arabic News Station! HILARIOUS!!! Only in Omerica!

  22. “When I flipped out on psilocybin in 1979, you couldn’t blame the Carter administration.”
    LOL. Why not? His whole term was a bummer. Obviously ruined your high.

  25. The left is sad about this….they were so hoping the shooter was a white middle aged man. But alas it’s a single black woman. Meme falls apart.

  27. How is it possible that less than 2 hours after Ms. Carey was killed by the police (FBI/Secret Service?) ABC News was releasing information about her psychiatric history — this is supposed to be protected health information.
    Is it just possible that she was depressed (post-partum depression according to her mother), took a wrong turn and was confronted by the police, then panicked and drove off.
    The sad part is that the person who could answer that question definitively is dead and her infant child now has no mother.

  30. “When I flipped out on psilocybin in 1979, you couldn’t blame the Carter administration.”

    Well . . .

    Maybe.

  32. They killed an unarmed crazy lady

    .. Who was driving a 3500 pound weapon. Dangerously. Trying to drive over people.

    She was certainly “armed”.

  38. Heh. Sort of like that. There’s an element of cosmic unfairness that someone who’s problems are self-inflicted, repeatedly, gets do-overs, and someone else who might probably have gotten better won’t get a chance.

    It’s sad enough when it’s someone making a really bad choice with permanent consequences, but when it’s likely a temporary freak-out because she was *ill*… that’s just tragic. Might be ultimately unavoidable and still be what we’d call “senseless.”

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