At 12:49am on July 6, Sonya Massey called 911 in her hometown of Sangamon County, Illinois, frightened and asking for help after hearing suspicious noises outside of her home. Thirty minutes later, she was bleeding out on her kitchen floor from a gunshot wound.
But the shooter was not a mysterious figure lurking outside her home, it was the police officer that she called for help and protection.
How the night unfolded
Officers arrived at Sonya’s house quickly after the call and searched around the perimeter of the house. They attempted to knock on her front door, but she did not answer initially. It was not until 1.15am that Sonya answered the door.
They found her to be calm, although “unwell” according to court records. It has since been confirmed from Sonya’s daughter that she suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, but was taking regular medication to treat it.
Body-cam footage from the incident shows us the events that followed, although it is worth noting that Sean Grayson, the deputy who fired the fatal shot, did not turn his body-cam on until after the shooting.
Whilst his partner, who has not been publicly named, searched the inside of Sonya’s house, Grayson noticed a pot of boiling water on the stove and asked Sonya to turn it off. Once Massey is in the kitchen turning the stove off, the partner returns to the kitchen alongside Grayson, where they record Massey saying “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus” twice. Grayson draws his weapon whilst Massey apologises and shields herself out of fear before Grayson shouts “Drop the fucking pot” and fires three shots at Massey.
As his partner rushes to retrieve his medical kit, Grayson tells him not to bother as it was a “head shot”.
A chequered history
Since the tragic shooting, more information has been revealed about Sean P Grayson, who has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct.
Grayson’s personnel files show he hopped around from job to job within six different law enforcement agencies over four years, and in his recruitment notes it is claimed he “did not demonstrate good officer safety skills.”
When applying for the role which saw him kill Sonya Massey, his reference was a former Sangamon County deputy that also happened to be his future father-in-law. Further files show multiple disciplinaries that revolve around bullying and an abuse of power, with staff citing his lack of integrity, regular misconduct and a pattern of lying.
Grayson has pleaded not guilty to his charges, and is currently in jail without bail. He has been fired from the Sangamon county sheriff’s office.
A haunting history
Sonya Massey’s murder brings back memories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Mark Duggan and Sandra Bland. There are too many cases to name of police brutality caused by a racist poison that runs deep through the veins of our world’s institutions.
Sonya Massey’s fatal end has tragic ancestral echoes. She was a descendant of William K. Donnegan, a black man who was lynched by a white mob during the Springfield Race Riot in 1908. Massey died at the same hospital where Donnegan died after his throat was slit and he was hung from a tree outside his own home.
J.B. Pritzker, Illinois governor, has since called for the resignation of Sean Grayson’s boss, Jack Campbell, after failing to explain “how he ended up hiring this deputy sheriff who has been fired from other departments.”
“He failed to put forward reforms that clearly need to be made – training and other reforms – and still has failed to meet with the Massey family.”
J.B. Pritzker
As the UK faces ongoing far-right riots, Trump edges closer to presidency and people continue to be killed for the colour of their skin, it is impossible not to feel like we have made little or no progress in tackling racism, misogyny and hatred.