An Illinois sheriff’s deputy was fired and charged with murder after a Black woman was fatally shot during a 911 call. Lisa Chavarria has more.
Sonya Massey ducked and apologized to an Illinois sheriff’s deputy seconds before he shot the Black woman three times in her home, with one fatal blow to the head, as seen in body camera video released Monday.
An Illinois grand jury indicted former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, 30, who is white, last week. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct.
The video confirmed prosecutors’ earlier account of the tense moment when Grayson yelled from across a counter at Massey to set down a pot of hot water. He then threatened to shoot her, Massey ducked, briefly rose, and Grayson fired his pistol at her.
Authorities said Massey, 36, had called 911 earlier to report a suspected prowler. The video shows the two deputies responded just before 1 a.m. on July 6 at her home in Springfield, 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. They first walked around the house and found a black SUV with broken windows in the driveway.
It took Massey three minutes to open the door after the deputies knocked, and she immediately said, “Don’t hurt me.”
She seemed confused as they spoke at the door, and she repeated that she needed help, referenced God and told them she didn’t know who owned the car.
Inside the house, deputies seemed exasperated as she sat on her couch and went through her purse as they asked for identification to complete a report before leaving. Then Grayson pointed out a pot sitting on a flame on the stove.
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MORE: Family pushes for justice after deadly police shooting of Illinois woman
“We don’t need a fire while we’re here,” he said.
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Massey immediately got up and went to the stove, moving the pot near a sink. She and Grayson seemed to share a laugh over her pan of “steaming hot water” before she unexpectedly said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
“You better (expletive) not or I swear to God I’ll (expletive) shoot you in your (expletive) face.” He then pulled his 9mm pistol and demanded she drop the pot.
Massey said, “OK, I’m sorry.” In Grayson’s body camera footage, he pointed his weapon at her. She ducked and raised her hands.
Grayson was still in the living room, facing Massey and separated by a counter dividing the living room and kitchen. Prosecutors have said the separation allowed Grayson both “distance and relative cover” from Massey and the pot of hot water.
After Grayson shot her, Grayson discouraged his partner from grabbing a medical kit to save her.
“You can go get it, but that’s a headshot,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do, man.”
He added: “What else do we do? I’m not taking hot (expletive) boiling water to the (expletive) face”
Noting that Massey was still breathing, he relented and said he would get his kit, too. The other deputy said, “We can at least try to stop the bleeding.”
Grayson told responding police, “She had boiling water and came at me, with boiling water. She said she was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus and came at me with boiling water.”
During a Monday afternoon news conference, the family’s lawyer, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, called Grayson’s “revisionist” justification “disingenuous.”
“She needed a helping hand. She did not need a bullet to her face,” Crump said of Massey.
Asked why Massey told Grayson, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” Crump said she had undergone treatment for mental health issues. He noted that she invoked God’s name from the beginning of the encounter and asked for her Bible after the deputies stepped inside.
During Massey’s funeral on Friday, Crump said the video, which he and the family had already viewed, would “shock the conscience of America.”
Massey’s father, James Wilburn, demanded the county court system be completely open with its investigation and prosecution and transparent with the public.
“The only time I will see my baby again is when I leave this world,” Wilburn said. “And I don’t ever want anybody else in the United States to join this league.”
Grayson, who was fired last week, is being held in the Sangamon County Jail without bond. If convicted, he faces prison sentences of 45 years to life for murder, 6 to 30 years for battery and 2 to 5 years for misconduct.
His lawyer, Daniel Fultz, declined to comment Monday.
The Sangamon County Sheriff's Office released a statement on Facebook, saying in part: “…Massey lost her life due to an unjustifiable and reckless decision …” adding that “Grayson had other options available…" and "...his actions were inexcusable..."
President Biden releases statement on shooting of Sonya Massey
In a statement, President Joe Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden were praying for Massey’s family “as they face this unthinkable and senseless loss.”
"Sonya Massey, a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman, should be alive today," the statement said. "Sonya called the police because she was concerned about a potential intruder. When we call for help, all of us as Americans – regardless of who we are or where we live – should be able to do so without fearing for our lives. Sonya’s death at the hands of a responding officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not."
Massey’s death is the latest example of Black people killed in recent years by police in their homes.
In May, a Hispanic Florida sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Roger Fortson, when the Air Force senior airman opened the door of his home in Fort Walton Beach armed with a handgun pointed down. The deputy, Eddie Duran, was fired.
In 2019, a white Fort Worth, Texas, officer fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson through a rear window of her home after responding to a nonemergency call reporting that Jefferson’s front door was open. Aaron Dean, the former officer, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison.
In 2018, a white Dallas police officer fatally shot Botham Jean, who was unarmed, after mistaking his apartment for her own. Amber Guyger, the former officer, was convicted of murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Crump has represented families in each case as part of his effort to force accountability for the killings of Black people at the hands of police. Crump also has represented relatives of Earl Moore, a Springfield man who died after he was strapped face down on a stretcher in December 2022. Two emergency medical professionals face murder charges in that case.
Sangamon County Deputy Sean Grayson charged with murder
Prosecutors alleged that after Grayson allowed Massey to move a pot of water heating on the stove and she set it on a counter, Grayson then “aggressively yelled” at Massey over the pot and pulled his 9 mm pistol. Massey then put her hands in the air, declared “I’m sorry” and ducked for cover before being shot in the face. Grayson also discouraged the other deputy from getting his medical kit, prosecutors said.
“The other deputy still rendered aid and stayed with Ms. Massey until medical help arrived,” First Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Rodgers wrote. Grayson “at no time attempted to render aid to Ms. Massey.”
The 30-year-old Grayson, who is white, was indicted on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He pleaded not guilty in his first court appearance Thursday.
More than 30 of Massey’s family members and their supporters filled the seats of the courtroom last week, several of whom declined to comment afterward.
No one argued with the state’s contention that body camera footage of the incident upheld the first requirement in ordering Grayson detained — that there is a strong presumption that the actions alleged in the indictment occurred.
“At no point did this defendant show anything but callousness to human life,” Rodgers said.
Defense attorney Dan Fultz argued for Grayson’s release, contending the state’s arguments fell short on other arguments. Fultz said Grayson is not a threat to the community because was compliant and turned himself in within a half-hour after his arrest warrant was issued.
He said the Army veteran owns a home in Riverton, a community just east of Springfield, with his fiancee, whom he plans to marry this fall. His detention would pose a burden on the county, he said, because of Stage 3 colon cancer diagnosed last fall that requires special medical treatment.
Fultz asked for Grayson’s release on condition that weapons be removed from his home, that he undergo a mental health evaluation and the be put on around-the-clock electronic monitoring.
Cadagin decreed that Massey, weighing about 110 pounds (50 kilograms), posed no threat to the 6-foot-3 (190-centimeter), 228-pound (103-kilogram) Grayson, who was armed and accompanied by another deputy, and after shooting her refused to render aid.
Sheriff Jack Campbell said Wednesday that Grayson was fired because it is evident that the deputy “did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards. ... With our badge we accept enormous responsibility, and if that responsibility is abused, there should be consequences.”
Ben Crump, an attorney for Massey’s family, said the charges were a “step toward justice for Sonya’s loved ones, especially her children, who have endured unimaginable pain and suffering since they were notified of this tragedy.”
As many as 200 people gathered Wednesday at the Springfield NAACP building to express support for Massey and her family.
“I am enraged that another innocent Black woman had her life taken from her at the hands of a police officer,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement after the indictment.
Grayson is due back in court Aug. 26. He has been with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department about 18 months, Fultz said, after serving as an officer with several other police agencies in central Illinois for about seven years before that.
