Law enforcement sources say the driver of the car that rammed a police checkpoint at the White House was 34-year-old Miriam Carey of Connecticut. Thursday afternoon, three weeks after the deadly shooting at the Navy Yard, Carey lead police on a wild chase thru the streets of the nation’s capital that ended in her death.
During a news conference Thursday evening, Ed Donovan of the Secret Service said the incident began about 2:12 p.m., when Carey, driving a black Infiniti sedan, rammed a security fence at an outer perimeter checkpoint entrance to the White House grounds.
Uniformed Secret Service officers tried to stop the vehicle but were unsuccessful. An officer was struck and injured as Carey fled police, leading them on a high-speed chase from the White House to the U.S. Capitol building.
As stunned onlookers watched, U.S. Capitol and Secret Service police officers surrounded the vehicle and shot at it as Carey attempted to hit them. After a short pursuit around the Capitol, police shot and killed Carey. In the car, they found a 1-year-old girl in the backseat. The child, believed to be related to Carey, was not injured during the gunfire and is in protective custody.
D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier told members of the media that the incident appeared to be more than just a mere accident.
“This does not appear to be, in any way, an accident,” Lanier said. “This was a lengthy pursuit, there were multiple vehicles that were rammed, there were officers that were struck and two security perimeters that were attempted to be breached.”
Because the investigation is in its early stages, Lanier did not rule out terrorism in this case. She would only say that she was “pretty confident” the incident was not an accident.
Lanier praised the actions of the police officers involved and noted that security measures worked. “At the White House and at the Capitol, the security perimeters worked,” said Lanier. “They did exactly what they were supposed to do and they stopped a suspect from breaching the security perimeters in a vehicle at both locations.”
This article represents original reporting by the author.
