Family of Miriam Carey: 'Shooting was not justified'
Miriam Carey’s sisters spoke with reporters after returning from Washington following the grim task of identifying their loved one’s body.
The sisters of Miriam Carey say, “It just doesn’t seem real!”
Miriam Carey was shot to death Thursday afternoon after first trying to ram her car through a White House barricade then leading Capitol police through a high-speed chase. It ended near the Capitol in a hail of bullets.
Carey’s sisters spoke with reporters in Brooklyn, New York Friday night after returning from Washington following the grim task of identifying their loved one’s body. They said they were “still very confused as to why Miriam is not alive.”
They told reporters gathered in front of their Bedford Stuyvesant home the the shooting of their unarmed sister by Capitol police was “unjustified.”
The sisters also spoke about being gravely concerned that Carey’s infant daughter was in the back seat during the entire incident. Police say Carey’s daughter was not seriously harmed and was placed in protective custody. Her whereabouts right now, are unknown to the family.
Amy Carey-Jones said that she believed her sister was struggling with postpartum depression, but could not explain the depths of her mental condition that could have lead to that fatal confrontation.
Federal investigators in Washington told reporters Friday that Miriam Carey had been under the delusion that President Obama was communicating with her and had her home city of Stamford, CT under “lock down.” But back in Brooklyn Friday night, Carey-Jones said, “We don’t know why Miriam ended up going to DC, we don’t know if her depression contributed to her taking that ride.”
As far as the family could determine, Carey has no political agenda that might have prompted the incident.
Earlier Friday evening during an interview on CNN, Carey–Jones said, “There wasn’t a pattern [of mental instability]. It was something that occurred suddenly. She seemed overwhelmed. There was a lot of stress.” She challenged earlier reports that her sister showed outward signs of severe mental stress early on. “There were not moments of her walking around with delusions. That was not what was going on.”
She insisted that her sister was making progress with the help of counseling and medications. “My sister was experiencing postpartum depression with psychosis, that was her diagnosis. She once had experienced a momentary break down that needed emergency care but got help and dealt with that. She had challenges as a new parent but we always spoke closely with her as parents and was dealt with it as a family.”
In that interview, Carey-Jones said her sister recently told her that her doctors said she did not need medications anymore and, “They tapered her off the medications and she felt fine.”
The sisters would not say what medications Miriam Carey was prescribed. The Careys described their sister as a “vibrant” woman who had everything to live for, especially the love she showed toward her infant daughter. They said their sister, a professional dental hygienist, loved her work and wanted to teach, “To further give back to the field,” Carey-Jones said.
The family is questioning whether the only way to end the chase was by shooting their unarmed sister to death. One of the sisters, Valarie Carey, is a former New York City police officer. The family said they will conduct their own investigation.
“My sister just totally didn’t deserve this,” said Valarie Carey, “There are going to be a lot of different stories being told by people that claim they may know her. They don’t. She was a law-abiding citizen.”
In Brooklyn Friday night, Carey-Jones told reporters, “We believe that law enforcement could have handled things differently.” She went on to say, “Unfortunately, if someone does have a crisis, a moment of instability, how do people put in place to protect, how do they help you, how can they contain the situation and and give you the help that you deserve?”
The family’s position is the fatal shooting of Miriam Carey was “not justified.”
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