Justice Department to Investigate Police Killing of Sonya Massey

Massey, a beloved 36-year-old mother, was killed in her own home by police officers, whom she called because she feared there was an intruder.

By Kylie Cheung  |  July 24, 2024 | 4:59pm
Screenshot: AP/YouTube Latest
Justice Department to Investigate Police Killing of Sonya Massey

Around midnight on July 6, a Black woman named Sonya Massey called the police for help, after believing there was an intruder in her Springfield, Illinois, home. Two Sangamon County sheriff’s deputies arrived shortly after, and within minutes of entering Massey’s home, one of the deputies—a 30-year-old white man named Sean Grayson—shot and killed Massey in her kitchen. The 36-year-old mom is survived by two teenage children.

On Tuesday, one day after the sheriff’s office released chilling body camera footage from the incident, civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced that the U.S. Justice Department opened an investigation into Massey’s killing. Crump, who represents Massey’s family and rose to national prominence by representing the families of other police brutality victims including George Floyd, called the investigation “welcome,” but expressed reservations as we don’t yet “know what the scope [of the investigation] is,” only that the DOJ has “opened an investigation file on Massey” as of this week.

Last week, a Sangamon County grand jury indicted Grayson on three counts of first-degree murder and one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. Grayson pleaded not guilty on all charges and remains in custody without bail. Grayson has also been fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department, which said in a July 17 announcement, “It is clear that the deputy did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards.”

The body camera footage shared with the public this week has reignited fresh outrage with how Grayson and his fellow officer treated Massey. At first, the officers ask Massey for her name and assure her she’s “not in trouble.” The mood in the room shifts when Grayson points out a pot of boiling water on the stove: “We don’t need a fire while we’re here,” he says. Massey goes to turn off the pot, then picks it up to pour the water into the sink. As the deputies begin to back away from Massey, she calmly asks them, “Where are you going?” The deputies answer that they’re moving away from her “steaming water.”

Masseys says, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” while pouring the water into the sink. The officers seem to think she means to pour the hot water on them, but even still, there’s significant distance between them and she isn’t coming toward them. “You better fucking not, or I swear to God I’ll fucking shoot you in the fucking face,” Grayson says. He draws his gun and points it at her; she lifts the pot, ducks, and apologizes, clearly making no move to attack or threaten the officers. Grayson appears to fire three shots.

At that point, one of the deputies reports the “shots fired” and calls for EMS, but Grayson tells him, “Nah, she’s done. You can go get [your kit], but that’s a head shot. Dude, I’m not taking fucking boiling water to the fucking head. And look, it came right to our feet, too.” Paramedics then arrived to take Massey to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Since the shooting, Massey’s family shared that she was previously diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. And court documents filed by prosecutors in Massey’s case state that she appeared to be “calm, possibly unwell, and non-aggressive,” but was shot and killed by police anyway. Massey “was dealing with some issues,” Crump said at a Monday press conference. “She needed a helping hand. She didn’t need a bullet to the face.”

Massey’s father, James Wilburn, has spoken out this week about what the family has endured since her death. In a Tuesday interview with CBS Mornings, Wilburn said the family was “never told” that Massey’s death was caused by a police shooting, and instead, police led them to believe that “she was killed by the intruder” and police only found her dead. Wilburn also alleged that police “misled” the family to think Massey died from “self-inflicted wounds.”

“It’s probably the most horrible, heart-wrenching thing that we’ve ever seen in our lives, but if it were not for the body cam footage, we would not have known that this occurred,” Wilburn said.

Shortly after the body camera footage was released, President Biden on Monday expressed his condolences to Massey’s family. “Sonya Massey, a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman, should be alive today,” he wrote. “Sonya’s death at the hands of a police officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not.” Crump confirmed on Tuesday that Massey’s parents and her two children had met privately with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D) that same day. Crump said Pritzker pledged that the state of Illinois would be “partners in justice” in the investigation.

Still, legal experts have expressed doubts about whether Grayson will face justice. In more than 98% of fatal shootings, police aren’t even arrested for murder or manslaughter charges. When they do stand trial, it’s exceedingly rare for police officers to be prosecuted and convicted. “All it takes is one person on a jury to believe an officer who says, ‘Look you weren’t there; you don’t know how much danger I felt while I was there, and, therefore, I feared for my life and that’s why I shot.’ So that’s why many do get off even if they are prosecuted in the first place,” Al Jazeera’s Shiba Rattansi, who reports on law enforcement, said this week.

Grayson faces 45 years to life in prison for murder, six to 30 years for battery, and two to five years for misconduct.

Wilburn has called for policy change to prevent future fatal acts of police violence. “The only time I will see my baby again is when I leave this world,” he said at Monday’s news conference. “And I don’t ever want anybody else in the United States to join this league.”

 
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