Woman Shot and Killed in Rampage on Capitol Hill

The stories I've read are rather conflicting.
The link to USA Today says she was shot after she left the car and tried to flee.
Others have said that she was shot still sitting in the driver's seat.

She was from Connecticut and her family say she had no reason to be in Washington.

I find it hard to believe that the police were so trigger happy when there was a toddler in the car.
It is a very disturbing story with a lot of unanswered questions..
 
Trigger happy? I'd say those cops hearts were pumping pure adrenalin with that kind of behaviour going on at the White House Warri.

It's all too bizarre for me, I'll wait for more details before passing any judgements.... but from I've gleaned so far...

They didn't know the child was in the car from what I heard so it wouldn't have entered their thinking. Stopping a threat to the President was their job. They stopped it. End of section.
So she wasn't rigged up with a bomb, they couldn't know that either. Taking her out before she had a chance to set one off would have been my objective, and presumably theirs. Playing nice and patting a potential suicide bomber down isn't recommended in the training manual.

As to what motivated her.
 

C'mon it's happened here twice fairly recently. Two cars have been stolen with toddlers in the back of them while Mum was in the shop because the car thieves didn't notice them! One of them drove 2 kms and only noticed when the kid started chatting to him! He had the decency to park it under a tree and leave the door open so it wouldn't suffocate before he scarpered.

If one couldn't be spotted by someone actually getting into the car then it's no stretch to imagine one wouldn't be noticed by pursuing police either.
Also that car is very dark and very low slung at the back and all eyes would have been on the driver.
Did you see the video of it? Click on the show videos box, then on the camera icon nearest the front of the White House (or was it the Capitol?) on that map, it's News quality footage.
Yes I can believe they didn't see a child in there.

Edit: never mind the video, that link gives me a different page now. I'm having a really bad computer day. siiiiiigh.
 
Hmnn, let's see.

A car thief jumping into a car and driving off without looking behind doesn't see a child sleeping in the car seat behind him. It happens.

A phalanx of police, trained to assess a crisis situation and survey the scene for danger, several of whom have the car momentarily trapped with officers on both sides before it drives off ... they don't notice all the occupants of the car ? They don't use the radio ?

Who are they? The Keystone Cops?

Clearly there is a shoot-to-kill-and-ask-questions-later policy in place. No exemptions.
 
I feel before we all jump to conclusions we need to wait for the other members who live there to let us know what really happened, i really can't see the Police firing on a car for no reason, and what the terrorists have put them through in the past few years i can understand their actions.
They would not have been able to see the baby as it was only small, and they do have a duty to protect the public and after reading what the woman was doing i can understand their actions, but as i said let's wait for the members to let us know what occured.


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/3/shots-fired-us-capitol-building-lockdown/
 
Looking at a crises scenario from the outside, and actually being in it, are usually two very different things. You develop tunnel-vision and auditory exclusions, and your brain goes into fight-or-flight mode. You have to deal with the adrenaline dump, the nerves, and the interpretation of a constantly-changing scenario. You're trying to gather and process data while you're reacting - never an easy thing even in the best of times.

I've seen comments saying the cops should have shot out the tires. That's equivalent to saying you should shoot the gun out of the bad guy's hand - you don't focus on small targets in a crises; you go for center-of-mass or, as in this case, the threat itself - the driver.

Whoever this woman is, whatever reason she went postal, doesn't matter. She was a direct threat to the Power Structure, and every American knows that when you put on THAT hat you're open game. She knew what she was doing, so we shouldn't cry that she was taken down.

Kid in the car? Yeah, I'm going to spend my precious few seconds of reaction time and pants-wetting terror while being run-over looking for an approved child safety seat in the car. :rolleyes:

BELIEVE me - in an emotionally-charged situation like that, Godzilla could walk right past you in a T-shirt and bandana and you wouldn't notice.

Godzilla-----20063.jpg
 
They said she was suffering from post-partum depression after having her baby, and was also fired from her job for rough handling of patients and attitude...http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/b...n-After-Reports-of-Shots-Fired-226338921.html. I can easily understand them not seeing a young baby in a car seat, as their head is nowhere as high as a child in the seat. Also, if her windows were tinted, they couldn't see anything very well.
 

From your link
The woman, it turns out, was not a suicide bomber but a mental patient. She has been identified by law enforcement sources as Miriam Carey, and she had a one-year-old child with her in the car (with no weapons of any kind). This did not stop capitol police from shooting and killing her, of course, followed by widespread applause and celebration across D.C. and the entire mainstream media.

The incident highlighted the total paranoia that now rules Washington: the assassination of a young female mental patient with bad driving habits is now considered a "law enforcement success." I have no doubt that in order to justify their bizarre actions, the police there are now hurriedly planting evidence in the woman's apartment so they can say she had some other dastardly motive.

A nation of mental illness

In reality, the woman was just another over-medicated mental patient among millions who roam the streets of America, some on foot, others in vehicles. America is a nation of medication-induced zombies who are so incredibly disconnected from reality that many don't even know which political party Obama belongs to.
An assumption, no doubt. I hope there will be a full and independent coronial inquiry.
 
Looks like she was on anti-psychotic drugs...

As is probably half of the country ...

... I hope there will be a full and independent coronial inquiry.

Any time there is a Police shooting it is always investigated thoroughly, a coronial hearing is compulsory

Yet another reason the police are loathe to respond to your home invasion or your stolen gee-gaw complaint - when they do their job properly, the way they were trained to do it, they are brought before a court.

I'll say it once again - you couldn't PAY me enough to be a cop in this country. You're constantly fighting a battle on two fronts - the people you thought would support you end up putting the knife in your back.

No thanks.
 
Sifuphil wrote
Yet another reason the police are loathe to respond to your home invasion or your stolen gee-gaw complaint - when they do their job properly, the way they were trained to do it, they are brought before a court.

I'll say it once again - you couldn't PAY me enough to be a cop in this country. You're constantly fighting a battle on two fronts - the people you thought would support you end up putting the knife in your back.

No thanks.
My late husband would be the 1st to agree with you Phil, damned if you do and damned if you don't
 
As is probably half of the country ...

Yet another reason the police are loathe to respond to your home invasion or your stolen gee-gaw complaint - when they do their job properly, the way they were trained to do it, they are brought before a court.

I'll say it once again - you couldn't PAY me enough to be a cop in this country. You're constantly fighting a battle on two fronts - the people you thought would support you end up putting the knife in your back.

No thanks.
Every unnatural death needs to be examined carefully and dispassionately.

My dad died suddenly in his bed from a heart attack and there was still an autopsy because he had not recently seen a doctor. And rightly so IMO.

We had an incident where a deranged man was surrounded by police on Bondi Beach and shot to death.
The coronial inquiry did not lay personal blame on anyone but did recommend changes to procedure.
We should learn from mistakes and try to do better.
 
Warrigal what makes you think that they don't have inquiries, i know from my late husband that it is a huge thing here in Australia and no doubt in USA when officers shoot someone, they all have to submit detailed statements and are investigated thoroughly, they are not given a pat on the back for a job well done like you appear to be saying.
 
I think you missed the key word in my post which was "independent".
Did you see the whole congress stand and applaud the outcome?
There was more than police involvement in this event.
There was also FBI and possibly other secret service people.
It is vital that these agencies do not come to consider themselves above the law.

Remember that in the US judicial appointments are also political, with judges being elected rather than appointed.
Ours, once appointed, have tenure and are guaranteed independence from parliament and the executive.
They serve the law and the people, and cannot be pressured into anything else.

I'm not so sure about US realities, which is why I express the hope that and independent coronial inquiry take place.
We all know what she died of. Gunshots. What we don't know is how it came to that tragic outcome and whether it could have ended less tragically if different decisions we taken. No-one is being accused of murder but nevertheless a young mother was killed as if she was a terrorist, which in retrospect, she clearly was not. How did that happen is the question that needs answering. What we don't need is a whitewash to cover up cracks in the system.
 
Warri can I just say that I'm glad you're not in charge?
The queue of crims and terrorists lined up patiently awaiting your judicial approval of response would be just a logistical nightmare.
 
They wilł probably not have much of an investigative report, especially now that the Capitol Police, and all of Comgress has declared that they are heros, even though they didn't actually save anyone from anything.
There are always at least two sides to everything, and since they police didn't know what she was there for, and it was our Capital, and our President, which they are sworn to protect, they probably did the best thing under the circumstances.

However, there are just some strange circumstances that I hope will be explained.
From what I read, she was actually stopped by the police three times.
The first time, she was at a checkpoint, and they said there was some sort of an argument, and she drove off, apparently followed by several police cars. They should have seen the child in the back at that point, I would think.
Next, she arrived at the area where the posts were blocking the road, drove carefully and slowly into there and parked. This is all on the video that was taken by the Alheera news (apparently a government run news media, but they were talking in Arabic or some strange language ).
When the police come up on both sides with guns drawn, she apparently panics ( thinks they will shoot her and hurt the child maybe ?), and she then backs into the police far and frantically drives off. After that, she is speeding, and the chase ensues. Again, the police should have seen a child in the back seat.

They then chase her down, force the car off the road, and she gets out of the car and tries to escape, and is shot in the back and killed.
The reports here vary. Some say they child was shot, but that was later changed to say that she was in the hospital, and in good condition, and then that she was fine, implying that she had not been injured. The age was reported variously as 1-5 years in different reports. In the picture, she looks about 2 to me.
The whole drivers side of the car is riddled with bullets.

If she drove all the way from Connecticut, why did she have the child in the back seat if no one else was in the passenger seat ? When you have a baby, you usually put them beside you, in case they get sick, or something happens, and you need to reach them fast. Plus, you can see the child, and she can see you if she is up front.

Some have said it was suicide by cop, since she was obviously unarmed and not combative in any way. But that doesn't fit with her trying to escape when she discovered they had guns drawn and thought they were going to shoot her. And why would she take a child along to do that sort of thing anyway ?

Some witnesses report seeing another person in the front seat of the car, a man who had a gun, and ran away. From the pictures, it is hard to tell, but it did look like the police were aiming at someone on the passenger side when she was stopped and they had her surrounded. If you look at the picture of the car, it looks like there could be two heads in the car, but it is pretty hard to try and tell.

So far, none of it really makes sense to me, but I am still reading the reports, and looking at the news clips that I can find.
 
They wilł probably not have much of an investigative report, especially now that the Capitol Police, and all of Congress has declared that they are heroes, even though they didn't actually save anyone from anything.
A police inquiry is one thing but a coronial inquiry is a different matter. It has the power to subpoena witnesses.
It is not a hurried process and it may be a year or more before findings are released.

One thing is certain, the media is a very unreliable source of facts. They broadcast an awful lot of hearsay and speculation.
 


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