"Bizarre": Arizona woman, Anna Mae Blessing, 92, shoots 72-year-old son to death, police say

FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ – A 92-year-old woman shot her 72-year-old son because he wanted to place her in a life support center, according to the Sheriff's Office. Maricopa County.

In what the MCSO describes as a "bizarre sleight of hand", Anna Mae Blessing faces a charge of first degree murder, aggravated aggression with a deadly weapon and kidnapping, reports KPHO-TV, a subsidiary of CBS Phoenix. MPs were called to Fountain Hills around 10 am Monday.

Blessing lived with his son, Thomas Blessing, and his girlfriend in the girlfriend's condo. They moved it about six months ago out of state.

"According to the statements provided by the suspect Blessing and received by the detectives, she had for several days contemplated her son's intentions to place her in a life support center," a statement from MCSO press. "The blessing recovered two pistols and hid them in the pockets of her dress, then confronted her son in his room."

MCSO said that she shot her son twice before turning the gun on his 57-year-old girlfriend. While she was struggling with this woman, whose name was not published, Blessing lost his grip on the gun.

"The Blessing recovered the second weapon and tried to point it at the girlfriend, who snatched it from Blessing," according to the MCSO

. The girlfriend called 911. When the deputies arrived, they ordered Blessing to go out but were greeted with silence. They found her sitting in her lounge chair, her dead son in a bedroom.

"As the suspect was escorted from the residence, she made a spontaneous statement to the effect of" You took my life away, so I take yours ", reads in the judicial documents.

during an interview with the suspect that she believed that her life was being taken as a result of her son and his girlfriend trying to place her in an assisted living facility, the police said.

According to the probable cause of the statement of arrest, Blessing "intended to commit suicide, but she did not possess any additional firearms."

In discussion with Blessing, investigators learned that she owned both weapons – a revolver and a .25 caliber pistol – since the 1970s. first, she says, she bought from a gun store, the second was given to her by her husband before she died. She also told the deputies the last time she pulled one of the weapons in the 70s.

she rang the two pistols on the floor under a shelf in his room. 9659002] When Blessing was asked what she thought should happen to her, she replied that she should be "asleep" because of her actions.

"It's really strange," MCSO Sgt. Bryant Vanegas told the family in Arizona. "There are a lot of circumstances, of course, but it's definitely something you do not see every day and it's very unfortunate that it has happened."

"It's always worrying that domestic problems are escalating into violence or tragic consequences, "said sheriff Paul Penzone in a statement." They are often isolated and are neither predictable nor preventable. "

According to Court documents, Blessing and Thomas had a history of domestic violence, including at least one incident in which the police responded

held on a $ 500,000 cash bond.