A Facebook page for Miriam Carey--the woman shot and killed in Washington D.C. on Thursday--which included a friend saying she was a “sweet and nurturing person," contrasting accounts that law enforcement gave about her.
The Facebook page was set up in recent days but appeared to receive a large amount of hate speech and political comments. “Folks- this is a community page for us to share our feelings on today’s tragedy. Keep your politics and hate speech off this page. This is in memory of my friend,” wrote the owner of the page.
It drew a large number of comments in the past several days.
“When you roll up in the nations capital and run over police officer and fail to heed warnings to stop.. Ramming a police car.. You pretty much got a death wish.. Wish Granted.. Sad but true,” one person wrote.
Others said that police used excessive force in killing her.
“They could of shot at her car tires it would of came to a end sooner or later and then had someone talk her out of the car. How far can she go if you have her plates. She was upset about something and maybe she snapped for a moment then got scared about all the police pointing the gun at her and her little girl,” wrote another.
Others said that Americans are not taking mental illness seriously enough.
Carey is accused of hitting a barricade at the White House before leading police in a chase that ended up near Capitol Hill. Video footage shows that her black sedan was driving erratically before police opened fired on the vehicle, killing her.
Her infant daughter was in the car with her, but she was unhurt.
Idella Carey, Miriam’s mother, told ABC News earlier this week that her daughter had “postpartum depression after having the baby” in 2012.
“A few months later, she got sick. She was depressed. ... She was hospitalized,” Carey added.
A law enforcement official, who was not named, told the Washington Post that Carey “may have thought President Obama was stalking her.” The official added: “Those communications were, of course, in her head,” The Associated Press reported.
“We are seeing serious degradation in her mental health, certainly within the last 10 months, since December, ups and downs,” another official told AP. “Our working theory is her mental health was a significant driver in her unexpected presence in D.C. yesterday.”
Reports said that when authorities searched her house on Thursday, they found the antipsychotic Risperidone and antianxiety drug Escitalopra. She called herself the “The Prophet of Stamford” at one point, law enforcement sources told the Hartford Courant.
“She thought that the president had her apartment under surveillance,'‘ Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, head of the House Committee on Homeland Security, was quoted as saying. ”That must have prompted her trip to Washington and her attempt to visit the White House.’’
Amy Carey-Jones, her sister, said that she was not bipolar or schizophrenic, nor had she ever mentioned Obama, reported CNN. She said that Carey stopped using her medication under a doctor’s guidance.
“Our real concern is why, and were things done properly? … Is there some other way she could have been helped?” she asked.
