Sheriff: Deputies went to 92-year-old woman's home multiple times before son was killed

Deputies were called multiple times for domestic disputes at the home of a 92-year-old Arizona woman accused of fatally shooting her son, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said Thursday.

Sheriff Paul Penzone said his office will be will review whether his officers made appropriate judgments in the visits to the Fountain Hills home that preceded the shooting.

"Our agency had been to the home a few times prior. The reason we were out was to investigate domestic disputes between the victim and her son and potential threats," Penzone said.

Anna Mae Blessing was arrested on suspicion of shooting her son to death in the home on Monday after she refused to go to an assisted living facility, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

Police had visited the home on numerous domestic and knew there were guns in the home before Blessing shot her son, Thomas Blessing, 72, who lived in the home with his girlfriend and mother, officials said.

There were six calls for service since January according to MCSO.

There were six calls for service at the residence since January, according to the sheriff's office.

Of the six calls, four alone were on June 21 for a domestic dispute, officials said. Another was for a possible identity theft report and another involved a wrong-number call, MCSO said. Further details were not available.

"There were communications between the parties expressing the frustration in the relationship even to the point where both had expressed a concern that the other party could become violent," Penzone said.

While there were potential threats and concerns about violence between the mother and son, the Sheriff's Office did not intervene, Penzone said.

He said the agency will investigate how those calls were handled.

"If we failed in any way, shape or form, that is unacceptable," Penzone added. "But we're not ultimately the ones responsible when an individual decides to take the act of using a firearm or other weapon to take another life. It is that individual's responsibility; they own that act."

After the fatal shooting, deputies searched the home and found 13 firearms, 11 of which belonged to the victim and two that belonged to Blessing. None of the weapons were secured, and they were all in spaces that were able to be accessed, Penzone said

Blessing reportedly said, "You took my life, so I'm taking yours," as deputies escorted her from the apartment she shared with her 72-year-old son and his girlfriend, according to court records.

Court records show Blessing had been contemplating her son's intentions to put her in an assisted living facility for several days prior to the Monday morning shooting. Blessing told deputies her son wanted her to leave because she "had become difficult to live with."

Blessing reported hiding two pistols in the pockets of her robe before confronting her sleeping son, court records show.

She fired one of the pistols multiple times, striking and killing her son before pointing the gun at his girlfriend, who wrestled the firearm away and threw it into a corner of the room, court records show.

Blessing then retrieved the second handgun from her pocket, records show, and attempted to point it at the girlfriend, who again knocked it out of her hand.

While the girlfriend fled the room, court records said, Blessing proceeded to sit in the recliner in her bedroom and told detectives that she wanted to kill herself but had no additional weapons to do so.

Deputies arrived following the incident and took Blessing into custody.

Officials said Blessing faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping

Contributing: Angela Forburger 

Cox Media Group