A 92-year-old woman has been charged with first-degree murder after she allegedly shot her son dead because he wanted her to move into a care home.
According to a statement she made to police, Anna Mae Blessing’s 72-year-old son Thomas told his mother that she was becoming “difficult to live with” and would have to move out of the apartment that he shared with his girlfriend in Fountain Hills, Arizona.
Blessing told detectives that she “had been contemplating for several days her son’s intentions to place her in an assisted living facility”, according to a statement from Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
On Monday morning, she “reportedly concealed two pistols in the pockets of her robe and then confronted her son in his bedroom”, says news site ABC15 Arizona.
At some point during the ensuing argument, Blessing drew one of the firearms – given to her by her husband in the 1970s, Fox News reports – and fired multiple rounds at Thomas, who was later pronounced dead.
She then pointed the weapon at her son’s 57-year-old partner, who was able to disarm her of both firearms and call the sheriff’s department.
Deputies who arrived on the scene found Blessing waiting in a recliner in her bedroom. As she was placed under arrest, she reportedly commented: “You took my life, so I’m taking yours.”
She also told officers that she had intended to kill herself, but was disarmed before she could go through with this plan.
When asked what she thought should happen to her, she is said to have replied that she should be “put to sleep” for her actions, according to CBS News.
The 92-year-old has been charged with murder in the first degree, as well as aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping. She will appear in court for a preliminary hearing on 13 July.
