Sonya Massey called 911 to report a potential prowler before being shot inside her home. Footage shows she was cowering and holding a pot when the deputy opened fire.
The Sangamon County State’s Attorney released body camera footage on Monday showing then-sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson shooting and killing Springfield resident Sonya Massey inside her home.
The shooting happened a little after midnight on July 6 after 36-year-old Massey called 9-1-1 to report a potential prowler. The video shows Massey inviting Grayson and another, unnamed deputy into her home. The officers chat with Massey for a couple of minutes, when Grayson tells Massey to remove a pot of boiling water from her stove top.
As Massey moves the pot to her kitchen sink, she tells Grayson that she will “rebuke him, in the name of Jesus.” Grayson told Massey, “I’ll f******* shoot you right in your f****** face” before closing the gap between them and opening fire.
Massey, who was unarmed, was struck in the face.
The video then shows Massey bleeding on her kitchen floor, and Grayson discouraging the other deputy from retrieving a medical kit because of the severity of Massey’s injury. The other deputy did, however, render aid until medical help arrived. Prosecutors say Grayson at no time attempted to help.
After the shooting, Grayson can be heard on the body camera footage saying he was concerned about “taking hot boiling water” to the face.
He later tells an unnamed deputy on the scene that Massey had boiling water and “came at” him. However the video does not show Massey make a move toward Grayson. Instead she cowered in fear, said “I’m sorry,” and tried to crouch behind the kitchen counter after the deputies pulled their guns.
Grayson did not have his body camera on until after the incident. Footage of the shooting comes from the body camera of the other deputy in the house.
Grayson has since been fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office and is charged with three counts of first degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges against him, and is being held in jail until a trial date.
Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser is prosecuting Grayson, and said last week that a review of the case “does not support a finding that (Grayson) was justified in his use of deadly force.”
Since the footage was released to the public, several statewide and federally-elected officials expressed their outrage and sympathy for the family. In a statement, President Joe Biden said the shooting was evidence of the need for Congress to pass police reform.
“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,” Biden said in the statement. “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.”
In a statement, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul called the video “horrific.”
“I offer my deepest sympathy to Sonya Massey’s family as they relive a moment no family should experience,” Raoul said. “As the community reacts to the release of the footage, I urge calm as this matter works its way through the criminal justice system.”
The Massey family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has also worked with the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Crump said the footage will, “shock the conscience of America, much like the pictures of Emmitt Till after he was lynched.” Till was a Black boy from Chicago who was lynched in Mississippi in the 1950s.
“She’s gurgling …blood is pouring out of her face,” Crump said. “Instead of having an ounce of humanity, [Grayson] says that effing B was crazy. Where is the humanity?”
Meanwhile, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus called for justice for Massey. State Senator Robert Peters, D-Chicago, who chairs the caucus said in a statement that charges against Grayson are not enough.
“Justice demands answers and accountability. We need to know how and why someone capable of such a horrible act was given a badge and a gun in the first place,” Peters said. “The repeated murders of unarmed Black people across the country is sickening and emotionally traumatizing. Sonya Massey is dead because she called 911 for help. Our communities deserve better.”
A swift investigation
Body camera footage was handed over to the Illinois State Police immediately after the shooting took place. The agency concluded its investigation after 11 days, and found that Grayson’s use of force was “not justified.” A “use of force expert” reviewing the incident likened it to a scenario in which an officer throws themselves in front of a moving vehicle and then justifies use of force for fear of being struck. In court documents, prosecutors also noted that Grayson is 6’3” and weighed over 200 pounds, while Massey stood at about 5’1” and 110 pounds
In a statement, Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said Grayson “did not act as trained or in accordance with standards.”
Massey’s family said they are pleased with how swift local authorities acted in charging Grayson. However, Massey’s father, James Wilburn, said Grayson shouldn’t have even been there in the first place. Speaking at a press conference Monday, Wilburn was overwhelmed with frustration. Massey’s young daughter, who was standing next to him, had to leave the room.
“Because this man should have never had a badge,” Wilburn said. “He should have never had a gun. He should have never been given the opportunity to kill my child. Because he had some serious blemishes on his record.”
Grayson had been at the Sangamon County sheriff’s department for a little over a year before the shooting. He had bounced around five smaller police- and sheriff’s departments over the past four years. Before joining law enforcement, Grayson had been arrested twice for driving under the influence.
Wilburn, speaking at his daughter’s funeral last Friday, called on local and state elected officials to raise the standard for hiring law enforcement officers in Illinois.
“When you are allowed to resign from a police department and then they recycle you and you go on to the next police department [that is a problem],” Wilburn said. “Illinois can be number one… introduce the bill tomorrow, that when you [resign] in lieu of being fired form a police department, you don’t go on to the next one.”
The local Black Lives Matter chapter, as well as several other activist groups, held a barbecue at a park near downtown Springfield Monday evening, a few hours after the body camera footage was publicly released. In addition to serving burgers and hotdogs, organizers had set up two barber chairs and face painting stations under the park’s pavilion.
People were talking, laughing, dancing to music playing over loudspeakers, playing basketball. But many attendees were also crying, hugging each other and making signs that read, “Justice for Sonya Massey.”
Organizer Tiara Standage said the goal was to offer some peace and healing to her community.
“We don’t want any violence in our community,” Standage said. “There already has been a terrible act of violence against our community. So we just want to band together peacefully and get justice for Sonia Massey and take care of our community as well. “
Like Wilburn, many community members have turned a skeptical eye toward the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department. A petition to oust Sheriff Jack Campbell and demand an investigation into the department’s hiring practices was being circulated as well.