A 93-year-old woman from Arizona, who was charged with killing her son because he wanted to put her into assisted living, has reportedly died before her trial. The woman, identified as Anna Mae Blessing, shot her 72-year-old son Thomas Blessing at the home they shared in Fountain Hills, Arizona, on July 2, 2018. She was soon arrested and sent to Maricopa County Jail, however, Blessing died in hospice care this month, the Arizona Republic reported.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office on January 10 filed a motion to dismiss the case without prejudice, citing her death. However, the date of her death is not exactly clear. According to reports, Blessing had a stroke on November 9 and was released into hospice care shortly after. She reportedly remained in the care until her death.

Blessing's public defender Jennine Burns told Maricopa County Superior Court in a conference in December: "Miss Blessing has significant health issues that I think will be impacting the scope of this case in the near future."

Blessing shot her son Thomas with one of two weapons she had hidden under her bed in her room, which was in his girlfriend's condo. Thomas, who was 72-years-old, moved to his girlfriend's condo with his mother six months ago and his mother was worried that the couple was planning to move her to a nursing home.

Reports state that Blessing hid two pistols inside her house robe and walked into her son's room and shot him twice. One of the bullets hit his neck while the other pierced through his jaw. Blessing then moved towards Thomas' 57-year-old girlfriend with the gun pointed at her, but then the woman swiftly wrestled the weapon out of the nonagenarian's hand.

The incident, however, was not over. Blessing took out another gun from her robe but the girlfriend managed to also wrestle the second weapon out of her hand. Blessing then sat back in a recliner chair and waited for police to arrive at the scene.

After Blessing was arrested, she proclaimed: "You ended my life, so I'm taking yours." She reportedly also told the officers that she wanted to kill herself but she was not left with any more weapons. When officials asked her what she thinks should happen to her now, she reportedly "replied with she should be 'put to sleep' as a result of her actions."

She told the detectives that both the guns used in the incident —  a revolver and a .25 caliber pistol — were hers and that she had not used either of the weapons since the 1970s before Monday's incident.

Thomas, her son, had reportedly been arrested for harassment and assault previously.

Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said that police had been called previously to at least one other case of domestic violence which involved Blessing and her son. However, Penzone did not divulge any further details regarding the incident. 

Penzone, while talking to KSAZ-TV, said: "It is always concerning when domestic issues escalate to violence or tragic outcomes. They are often isolated and neither predictable nor preventable."