Idella Carey, mother of Miriam Carey killed at the hands of Washington police Thursday, said her daughter began suffering from postpartum depression after giving birth in August 2012.
Mariam Carey was shot to death outside the U.S. Capitol after trying to ram her car through a White House barrier.
Interviews with some of those who knew the Stamford resident suggested she was coming apart well before she loaded her 1-year-old daughter into the car for the 275-mile drive to Washington, D.C. Carey had sustained a head injury in a fall and had later been fired as a dental hygienist about a year ago, according to her former employer, Dr. Brian Evans, a periodontist in Hamden. He wouldn’t say why, only that after a few weeks out from work, she returned and was terminated.
Federal investigators believe that Carey drove straight to the nation’s capital and that the violence unfolded immediately upon her arrival.
After ramming into the barricades, Carey, apparently unarmed, led police on a chase down Constitution Avenue to the Capitol, where she was shot in a horrifying chain of events.
Amy Carey-Jones, a sister of Miriam, said on CNN’s ‘Anderson Coopers 360’ Friday that there should’ve been “another way instead of shooting and killing an individual.” Another sister, Valerie Carey, said their sister “did not deserve to have her life cut down” at age 34.
A next-door neighbor, Erin Jackson, said Carey doted on her daughter, Erica, and was pleasant. Jackson said. “She seemed very happy with her daughter, very proud of her daughter.” The daughter was miraculously unharmed and was taken into protective custody.
Experts say symptoms of postpartum depression include lack of interest in the baby; mood swings between sadness and irritability; scary thoughts of something bad happening to the baby; and, in severe cases, suicidal thoughts.
Police say they’re confident Carey’s actions weren’t an accident, but that she intentionally meant to ram into the guard barrier surrounding the Whitehouse.
