The suspect in the high-speed chase between the White House and the Capitol Building was identified Friday by a law enforcement source as a dental hygienist from Connecticut with a history of mental issues.

The source identified the woman as Miriam Carey, 34, of Stamford, Conn. Carey tried to plow her car into a barricade at the White House, then led cops on a high-speed chase before being shot dead near the Capitol, according to reports.

Other reports suggest that she had a history of mental health issues.

Carey’s apartment in Stamford was swarmed by the FBI and various law-enforcement agencies   Thursday evening, with helicopters circling and a bomb squad ready, as they awaited a warrant to search the premises. 

Sources tell Fox News that the FBI is currently investigating how long the suspect was in Washington, DC and why she had travelled there from Connecticut.

Leslie Silva, a Stamford lawyer who has represented Carey, said she was unaware of any connection or reason why Carey would have been in Washington.

“Oh my goodness, I represented her,” Silva said to when reached by phone.  “She was a really nice woman, we had [our] children at about the same time, we had pleasant conversation.”

Silva, told FoxNews.com she couldn’t believe Carey may be the woman involved in Thursday’s shooting at the Capitol.

“I am absolutely shocked that she could be implicated in this,” she said. “She was responsible financially—just a nice person—there’s nothing that would lead me to believe she would be capable of doing this.”

Silva added that she represented Carey when she bought her Stamford condo and again more recently in a dispute over a small amount of money with the development that was settled in February, the last time she communicated with the suspect.

“It’s just really shocking,” she told FoxNews.com. “I had nothing but pleasant conversations with her when I represented her and I’m just really really shocked.”

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.”

Fox News’ Perry Chiaramonte, Jana Winter

and The Associated Press contributed to this report