An Arizona grandmother who shot and killed her twin grandsons has been sentenced to twenty-one years in prison. The boys, who both had autism, had been left in her care after their mother died by suicide.
Dorothy Flood received the sentence, which breaks down to ten and a half years for each boy, last week. She fatally shot 8-year-old Jordan and Jaden Webb in April 2019. Both boys had severe autism, used diapers, and were non-verbal. Jorden also suffered from digestive problems while Jaden suffered from asthma.
RELATED STORY:
RELATED STORY:
Flood, 56, had been taking care of the boys since their mother’s death three years earlier. She had quit her job to care for them, but apparently it was too much for her. Chandra McCord, Flood’s former co-worker at the University Medical Center in Tucson, said:
“Somewhere, something snapped. My first reaction was of course no, it could not be the same Dorothy we knew.”1
Flood’s defense attorney claimed she was mentally unstable and wanted to help the boys end their pain and suffering. According to prosecutors:
“She in her letter said when she took the gun out of the drawer, she said, ‘I am sorry buddy, we are not getting better. They cannot help us, so we are going to leave, the three of us.'”1
RELATED STORY:
The grandmother shot Jordan once in the stomach and Jaden in the chest. She then shot them both in the head. The gun jammed when she turned it on herself, so she took some pills instead.
Flood and the boys were discovered in her home on April 4, where the boys were pronounced dead.
Initially, Flood was charged with first-degree murder but took a plea deal with prosecutors and pled guilty to manslaughter.
During her sentencing hearing, Flood told the Pima County judge:
“I loved those boys. I never intended to harm them. I am so sorry that I did.”1
