The dental hygienist who was shot to death after leading police on a high-speed chase from the White House to the Capitol was laid to rest in Brooklyn today, where family and friends were gripped by grief and confusion.
About 60 relatives and friends filled the Grace Funeral Chapels in Cypress Hills, trading stories about a Miriam Carey who was close to her family and loved her work.
But most were at a loss for words about Carey’s life ended, in a hail of bullets in Washington DC Oct. 3 after cops said she drove her car into a barrier at the White House. With her 1-year-old daughter in the backseat, officials said Carey, 34, struck a Secret Service agent, then drove toward the Capitol and backed into a police cruiser before cops opened fire on her 2010 Nissan Infinity.
“You asked yourself why a thousand times,” a friend said in a note that was read at the funeral. “But nothing makes sense.”
Mourners wiped their eyes, and a baby could be heard wailing during the emotional service.
But it was not Carey’s daughter, Erica, who survived the ordeal unharmed. The little girl is now the subject of a custody hearing between Carey’s family and her father, who did not bring the girl to the funeral.
Family members have acknowledged that Carey had been diagnosed with post partum depression and psychosis, but insisted that she was stable when they last spoke to her on the day before her trip to Washington DC.
But relatives can’t explain why she drove to Washington, especially when Erica had a doctor’s appointment that same day.
A colleague said Carey was in the office two days before the incident, and she seemed cheerful and upbeat.
“She had a great heart,” said Gail Johnson, 50, a family friend. “This is an awful loss for the family. But the family is strong. I’m sure they’ll get through this.”