Members of Congress from both parties are saying they're willing to accept the Justice Department's judgment in declining to file charges against the officers who shot and killed Miriam Carey, 34, after she apparently made a wrong turn into a White House checkpoint and then tried to flee.
"My instinct is to trust the Department of Justice in a matter like this," Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., told CQ Roll Call after the decision was announced.
Cole, who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Capitol Police budget, said he had not yet reviewed the DOJ report on the case but added, "I don't have any reason to believe they would not take it very seriously."
The 34-year-old mother from Stamford, Connecticut, was shot five times, once in the head, three times in the back and once in the arm, in a confrontation with authorities in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 3, 2013. The bullets all missed her 14-month-old child, who was in the back seat of her vehicle as officers repeatedly fired at it.
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As WND reported, the Justice Department said it was declining to press criminal charges against the Secret Service and Capitol Police officers who shot and killed Carey. The federal review has been under way since the shooting by two uniformed Secret Service officers, who remained on duty, and the two Capitol Police officers, who have been on administrative leave.
It happened when Carey apparently made a wrong turn, but refused to stop, instead trying to flee.
Reports say police have claimed in federal court that officers started chasing her near the White House after Carey drove over a bicycle rack that Secret Service officers placed in front of her car. She reportedly knocked an officer to the ground, then sped toward Capitol Hill.
Police apparently fired several times on the moving vehicle carrying Carey and her daughter.
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, a northern Virginia Democrat said he "understood" why the police opened fire.
"My heart goes out to the family of the deceased," Connolly, told CQ Roll Call. "It is a tragedy because, in a sense, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Capitol Hill police and Secret Service and the Park Police who guard this part of Washington, D.C., are on heightened alert after so much has happened in the last decade.
"They're on real heightened alert and everybody needs to know that," Connolly continued. "You penetrate that barrier at your own peril. That's what happened. It was tragic, I wish it hadn't happened, I wish she hadn't been shot, and, as I said, my heart goes out to her family, but I fully understand the reaction of the police."
Rep. James P. Moran, D-Va., suggested Carey was suffering from "mental issues" and said Capitol Police take the incident as a "teachable experience."
"I know that had that happened in Alexandria, the results would have been different, so it's troubling," Moran said. "I think that there must be a different attitude, or level of training or whatever. I don't think this is the way that a situation like that should normally be handled and I'd like to see, at the very least, have this be used as a teachable moment."
WND reported earlier on the $75 million dollar lawsuit the family is bringing against the U.S. government, blaming the uniformed division of the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Capitol Police for "numerous intentional, grossly negligent and reckless actions of police officers, supervisors, managers and other related employees."
Authorities first called Carey a terrorist threat, and when she turned out to be an unarmed suburban mother, they said she was on drugs. Then no drugs were found in her system.
It was a report from Dr. Nikki Mourtzinos of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the District of Columbia that revealed Carey was shot repeatedly in the back.
The video below shows officers fired at least seven shots at Carey in a crowded public space after they inexplicably failed to block her car at the traffic circle.
See these other WND stories on the Miriam Carey Mystery:
No charges for D.C. cops in mom's killing
Cops opt for 'the fix' after mom's puzzling death
Covering chaos: The Capitol Hill Shooting
Why did Capitol cops cut down 'innocent' woman?
Legal Experts: D.C. cops murdered woman
Famous Security Expert: Was this Murder?
Missing! Video of mother killed by police
Cops knew suburban mom was no terrorist
Ex-NYPD cop hunts for truth on mom slaying
Fascinating D.C. murder mystery stranger by the day