Why did a US mother try to breach White House security?

The woman, who has been named by two US law enforcement officials as Miriam Carey, a 34-year-old woman from Stamford, Connecticut, initially sped onto a driveway leading to the White House, over a barrier.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss an ongoing investigation.

When she could not get through a second barrier, she spun the car in the opposite direction, knocking a secret service agent over the bonnet.

Capitol chase

US officers chased the woman, in her black Infiniti, along Constitution Avenue, which leads to the Capitol, the home of US federal government.

At one point, officers surrounded the woman’s car, but she managed to escape by careering around a traffic circle and accelerating along the north side of the Capitol.

The woman was shot dead a block away from the Capitol buildings. She was travelling with a one-year-old child who has been taken into protective custody.

Carey’s mother, Idella Carey, told ABC News her daughter had been suffering from post-natal depression since late August. “She was depressed,” she said, but added that her daughter had “no history of violence”.

‘Isolated matter’

Police said there appeared to be no connection with terrorism, and said there was no indication the woman was armed.

Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine called it an “isolated, singular matter”.

Cathy Lanier, Metropolitan police chief, said: “The pursuit went several blocks and involved both United States secret service and United States Capitol police.

“Right now, the suspect in the vehicle, we do know was struck by gunfire and at this point has been pronounced (dead), so the suspect has been pronounced at this point.

“The child is approximately a year old and is in good condition and in protective custody.”

She added that police officers and secret service agents had acted “heroically”.

“Right now it is all very preliminary, we don’t know which officers fired, how many rounds were fired, I will say that both at the White House and at the Capitol, the security perimeters worked,” she said.

“They did exactly what they were supposed to do and they stopped a suspect from breaching the security perimeters, both in a vehicle, a vehicle at both locations.

“I would say both of the United States secret service and Capitol police officers for what I have seen so far from this investigation acted heroically in trying to stop this suspect from entering the security perimeters at both locations.”

The FBI has served a search warrant in connection with the investigation and police cordoned off an apartment block and the surrounding neighbourhood in Stamford.

Federal shutdown

The chase and fatal shooting came as US politicians continued to search for a resolution to the ongoing government shutdown.

The House and Senate both abruptly suspended business as the Capitol police broadcast a message over its emergency radio system telling people to stay in place and move away from the windows.

The House had just finished approving legislation aimed at partly lifting the government shutdown by paying National Guard and reserve members.

However, bills from the House, which is dominated by Republicans, have so far been blocked by the Senate, who say hardcore representatives of the Republican Tea Party should not be allowed to pick and choose where funds are returned.

Capitol police said they were working without pay as the result of the shutdown. A spokesman for House majority leader Eric Cantor said a bill to pay them was under consideration.

The incident also follows a gun attack at the US Navy yard in Washington last month.