Mother, 92, Shoots Son Who Wanted to Send Her To Care Home

A 92-year-old Arizona woman fatally shot her son Monday in order to avoid being sent to an assisted living home.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) said they were informed about an unknown trouble at a home in Fountain Hills, Arizona, at around 10 a.m. local time (1 p.m. EDT) on Monday and when they reached the home, they saw a man shot dead.

Anna Mae Blessing, the accused, told the officials that her son intended to place her at a care home.

"According to statements provided by suspect Blessing and received by the detectives, she had been contemplating for several days her son’s intentions to place her in an assisted living facility," Sheriff’s Office said.

"You took my life, so I'm taking yours," Blessing reportedly said while being escorted out of her home. Officials said she concealed two pistols in the pockets of her robe and confronted her son about moving her to an assisted living facility. She then took out the gun and fired multiple rounds at him.

Officials also said she pointed the gun at her son's 57-year-old girlfriend, but she accidentally dropped the gun, leading to a struggle. Blessing then retrieved the second handgun and attempted to point it at her, however, the woman managed to wrestle it away.

“The girlfriend contacted MCSO who responded and ultimately took Blessing into custody," the officials stated, local daily FOX 11 reported.

Sheriff Paul Penzone said it is concerning when domestic issues spiral into violence with tragic outcomes. “They are often isolated and neither predictable nor preventable,” he added.

Blessing was charged with one count each of first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping. The identity of the son has not been revealed.

In the last century, the proportion of persons aged 65 years or older increased from 4.1 percent to 12.9 percent in the United States.

According to a study by Pew Research Center, a not-for-profit organization based in Washington D.C., more than one-third of the public in the U.S. believe that “the primary responsibility for the economic well-being of people in their old age rests with the elderly themselves.”

Based on statistics and surveys, NBC reported in 2013 that around 2 million elderly people are subjected to abuse; neglect and exploitation every year in the U.S. It added that one in every 10 aged persons has suffered some form of abuse at least once in the lifetime.

"It's a huge issue, and it's just going to get bigger,” Sharon Merriman-Nai, project director of the online database Clearinghouse and a former mental health clinician, said.

Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, once said, from a common sense perspective, "parents and children both want a comfortable life — there are limits to the sacrifices that they’ll make for each other; while from a scientific perspective, under some circumstances it may be better for children to abandon or kill their parents and for the parents to abandon or kill their children.”

Also, health care providers often do not receive enough training in treating the old due to which the older patients are less likely to receive preventive care or be screened for health problems.