General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Capitol Incident: "They didn't have to shoot her." [View all]steve2470
(37,457 posts)When she rammed the barrier at the White House, if the Secret Service was "trigger happy", they could have blown her away right then and there. Instead, they were trying to talk to her.
She knocked one SS agent to the ground and sped out of there. She drove like a bat out of hell across DC to the Capitol, and the cops had no idea if she had a bomb etc. If she was sane and rational, she would have surrendered at the White House. Unfortunately, she was in the grips of a paranoid delusion (probably an unmedicated paranoid schizophrenic patient or having a breakthrough episode of paranoid psychosis...my guess). Maybe she refused treatment and/or wasn't taking her anti-psychotic medication.
It's a horrible tragedy all the way around, and even more so because her daughter is now mother-less. Imagine growing up and eventually finding out your mother died this way. So sad and so terrible.