Source: Schizophrenia meds found at home of woman in Capitol shooting

[ScreamingMeemie]

Source: CNN

snip-
Authorities investigating why a Connecticut woman rammed barricades near the U.S. Capitol found medications in her apartment to treat schizophrenia and other mental disorders, a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation said Friday.

The woman, identified by law enforcement officials as Miriam Carey, 34, was shot dead Thursday.


Investigators searched for clues at the woman's Stamford, Connecticut, home beginning Thursday, law enforcement sources said. Police and bomb squad units surrounded an apartment complex there and the area remained cordoned off Friday morning.
-snip

snip-

The source told CNN that Carey left a letter addressed to the boyfriend at her apartment and that it appeared to contain white powder. The letter is being tested for hazardous substances.

-snip

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/politics/u-s-capitol-shooting/index.html

[shotten99]

1. Sounds like anti-psychotics

Which these days means it could be used for anything from anxiety or depression to something much more severe.

[progressivebydesign]

5. she is reported to have a history of mental illness. nt

[shotten99]

9. wouldn't doubt it, just dropping my humble 2 cents. nt

[Heather MC]

2. The Meds weren't working

Last edited Fri Oct 4, 2013, 04:52 PM - Edit history (1)

It's weird that her freakout lasted from Connecticut to DC. I wonder if there is any footage her on the drive down. a stop at a store for gas or something.

[awoke_in_2003]

21. Or she wasn't taking them. nt

[onehandle]

3. How many gun owners have Schizophrenia meds in their medicine cabinet? nt

[progressivebydesign]

6. Thank god she didn't have a gun with her. could have been much worse. nt

[bossy22]

13. never give up a chance to get a cheap shot

[onehandle]

14. I put a 'cheap shot' in GD just for you...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023784786

[progressivebydesign]

4. Sheesh. Thanks Big Pharm.

and.. anti-tax nuts, and misguided "rights" activists. People that should be institutionalized, are instead told that they can just "take their meds" and live a normal life. Instead people HOPE they take their meds, often with disastrous results. They have kids, and the trappings of a normal life, but they can't sustain it. The mental health situation in America is abysmal. Life is unfair, but there are people that truly should not be living in the world with the hopes they take their meds. Well, I guess the good thing is that she didn't kill her daughter or anyone else (though the Secret Service agent was badly injured when she ran him over.)

[Arugula Latte]

7. Why was she allowed to care for her very young child by herself?

I obviously don't know all the details, but someone should have made damn sure that that baby was in safe hands.

[marshall]

8. Why do they call it a shooting?

It makes it sound like the woman had a gun. I honk it should be clarified as a police shooting.

[CTyankee]

32. she did threaten with her car, using it as a weapon to force down a fence around the

White HOuse and then refusing to stop and desist around he capitol. She used the car as a dangerous weapon in our capitol city.

I have been in capitol cities in western Europe where men with long guns guard the embassies right out in front of the buildings. I found that a little startling but got used it...

[Neoma]

10. Welp, this will fuel the fire against people with schizophrenia.

I hope people with it that is well functioning doesn't get too run over by the reinforced stigma.

[JonLP24]

11. +1000

[maxsolomon]

15. schizophrenics off their meds are doing a great job of fueling the fire

i walk around Seattle and see schizophrenics every day. mostly they're peaceful and self-involved, but on the whole they are worrisome. and for good reason.

once every 2 years or so, a random Seattleite (or Seattleites) is killed by an unmedicated schizophrenic.

a schizophrenic recent emigrant from Nevada just stabbed a couple after a Sounders game, killing the man. ian stawicki killed multiple people in the cafe racer shooting with his legally owned guns. shannon harps was stabbed to death outside her apartment on new year's day by a homeless schizophrenic. another man was axed to death in broad daylight by one. 10 years ago, a schizophrenic killed a bus driver, sending the bus careening off a bridge and landing on an apartment building.

the concern is valid.

[Neoma]

23. And this means that every person with schizophrenia will stab you?

[maxsolomon]

25. Of course not.

As none have stabbed me yet, and there are probably a 100 out on the streets of downtown Seattle on any given day, along with 100's more run of the mill homeless, "simple travelling folk", chronic alcoholics, and junkies looking to score.

But it means I am acutely aware of who is around me on city streets, and what their behavior indicates about the level of risk they represent. And Schizophrenics represent an actual risk to public safety.

I wish they didn't but they do. They are a wild card.

[JonLP24]

26. They are more likely to be victims of violence

than the other way around. They're no more violent than the general population unless left untreated as well as substance abuse.

Sensational news reports of bizarre acts of violence contribute to the perception.

[maxsolomon]

27. I'll concede that, and I was already aware of it.

But the "bizarre acts of violence" themselves contribute to the perception. It's not "sensational news reports" that make this unacceptable or worrisome to the general public:

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2013/09/police-pioneer-square-stabbing-suspect-dangerous-mentally-ill-person/

[JonLP24]

28. What I mean by that

is a story that involves a schizophrenic is more likely to be told & sold than a story that involves someone who isn't. Just an opinion as I don't have any facts to support this.

I look it like a story about a pit bull biting a dog will make the 10 o'clock news while a German Shepard biting a dog probably wouldn't.

[Posteritatis]

22. Looks like it already has in this thread

It's been awhile since DU went on a nice refreshing two-minutes-hate against anyone who shows up anywhere on the DSM.

[Sunlei]

12. long list of serious side effects on many of those meds.

Almost seems like the side effects are worse than the condition.

[Bette Noir]

16. That's why so many people don't take their meds.

If they're paranoid in the first place, they're going to believe they're being poisoned, when their meds make them feel sicker than they were before.

[Sunlei]

19. remember that airline pilot & attendant both went all paranoid on their flights.

They were both on those medications. Passengers held down the flight attendant, she was shrieking about a crash. The co-pilot did a ruse (sent him to the restroom) to get the pilot out of his chair & locked the pilot out of the cockpit. He was also all paranoid banging on the locked door.

[secondwind]

17. that poor baby.. now what?

[Sunlei]

20. she didn't have a gun

[cbayer]

24. Radio just said she was being treated for post-partum depression.

Risperdal is used for illnesses other than schizophrenia.

[kestrel91316]

29. Risperidone - my schizophrenic mom was on that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risperidone

Of course, it only works if you TAKE it.

When I was a teen, before my mom was diagnosed, she packed up the car and decided to flee to another city with me and the family pets to start a new life. That little misadventure only lasted 2 days, but marked the end of "life before" and the beginning of "life after" for me.

[ScreamingMeemie]

30. I hope life after was much calmer and happier for you and your mom.

[kestrel91316]

31. No. Life before her breakdown (my first 17 years) was the good part.

Life from then on, until she died 2 years ago (I am now 56), was varying degrees of hellish.

She was untreated for most of that time.

[ScreamingMeemie]

33. There aren't really any words.

I'm sorry, kes.

[kestrel91316]

34. Thanks. It was actually a relief when she finally went, even though she was only 76

(in a family where almost everybody lives well into their 80s). I shed my last tear over her many, many years ago, as did my sister.