The woman who caused chaos on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. yesterday has now been identified as Miriam Carey, a 34-year-old dental hygienist from Stamford Connecticut. She was shot dead by police after leading them on a high speed chase through downtown. Carey had a 1-year-old daughter named Erica. Police confirmed that a 1-year-old girl was taken from the car and put in “protective custody.”

Now, perhaps investigation into the incident has led to a cause for this apparent lunacy. ABC reports that Carey suffered from post-partum depression following the birth of her daughter last August.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8xB6zhu_ck

“She had post-partum depression after having the baby”, said the woman’s mother, Idella Carey.”A few months later, she got sick. She was depressed. … She was hospitalized.”

Carey said her daughter had “no history of violence” and she did not know why she was in Washington, D.C. She said she believed Carey was taking the little girl to a doctor’s appointment today in Connecticut.

Her boss of eight years, Dr. Steven Oken, described Carey as a “non-political person” who was “always happy.”

“I would never in a million years believe that she would do something like this,” he said. “It’s the furthest thing from anything I would think she would do, especially with her child in the car. I am floored that it would be her.”

However, Miriam’s neighbor, Erin Jackson, was asked if she believed Carey suffered from a mental illness, and she said “absolutely.”

Jackson said she believed Carey lived in the Stamford home with the baby and the girl’s father. She recognized the black Infinity sedan seen on television from the incident as resembling Carey’s car and said the woman’s tires recently were slashed in an incident in Connecticut.

Miriam Carey was the only fatality in the incident in Washington D.C. yesterday, but two officers, one from Capitol Police and one from Secret Service, were injured. Could this shed new light on the dangers of post-partum depression?

Image via youtube