Mother Says Daughter In Capitol Chase Was ‘Depressed’ [VIDEO]

The mother of a Connecticut woman who was shot to death by police after trying to breach a barrier at the White House said her daughter was suffering from post-partum depression.

Authorities said the woman set off a high-speed car chase that put the Capitol on lockdown Thursday and caused a fresh panic the city where a gunman killed 12 people two weeks ago.

Two law enforcement officials identified the driver as 34-year-old Miriam Carey, of Stamford, Conn. She was traveling with a 1-year-old girl who avoided serious injury and was taken into protective custody. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.

CNN reports that investigators that tried to speak to her relatives in Brooklyn, where she grew up,  were turned away. A family friend from Brooklyn, where she lived until 2005,  told the New York Post that “she loved being a mother." Other friends said she had a history of mental illness but had been happy in recent months.

A family lawyer told the Washington Post that the family would make a statement on Friday. “We have to mend the family first and find out what happened in D.C.,” said attorney Eric Sanders said.

Carey's mother, Idella Carey, told ABC News Thursday night that her daughter began suffering from post-partum depression after giving birth to her daughter, Erica, last August.

"She had post-partum depression after having the baby" she said. She added, "A few months later, she got sick. She was depressed. ... She was hospitalized."

Idella Carey said her daughter had "no history of violence" and she didn't know why she was in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. She said she thought Carey was taking Erica to a doctor's appointment in Connecticut.

ABC News reported that Miriam Carey was a dental hygienist. Her boss, Dr. Steven Oken, described Carey as a 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."

A former boss told NBC Connecticut that Carey had suffered head trauma after falling down some stairs. She came back to work with "a chip on her shoulder" and a bad attitude that led to her firing in 2012.

The Associated Press contributed to this report