Prosecutors have released body camera footage of a fatal shooting involving an Illinois sheriff’s deputy charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Sonya Massey, who had called 911 minutes earlier to report a possible prowler around her Springfield, Illinois, home.
The Sangamon County State’s Attorney made the video public on Monday, revealing a bizarre encounter that began as a polite exchange with officers but ended in tragedy when Sean Grayson of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office opened fire three times, killing Massey in her kitchen.
Law enforcement officials initially delayed disclosing the details surrounding Massey’s violent death on July 6, which led to confusion among Massey’s family members about how she actually died.
Massey’s relatives were finally allowed to review the bodycam footage more than a week after the shooting, and several days before it was released publicly, but Massey’s father said he initially believed that a burglar had killed his daughter — highlighting the apparent lack of transparency so far in the case.
The 36-year-old Black woman was killed after Grayson shot Massey inside her home under circumstances that appeared murky until last week.
Nearly two weeks after the shooting, a grand jury indicted Grayson on July 17, charging him with three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct.
The Illinois State Police conducted the investigation, and the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office also opened a probe, finding that Grayson’s use of deadly force was not “justified.”
The case has garnered national attention and prompted a statement from the White House condemning police violence against people of color.
“Sonya Massey, a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman, should be alive today. Sonya called the police because she was concerned about a potential intruder,” President Joe Biden said in a memo on July 22. “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.”
Biden said he was “heartbroken for her children and her entire family as they face this unthinkable and senseless loss. Jill and I mourn with the rest of the country and our prayers are with Sonya’s family, loved ones, and community during this devastating time.”
Biden also used the issue to call on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
On the night of the shooting, Grayson and another deputy responded to a call for help at Massey’s home.
The second deputy activated his body-worn camera upon arrival, but notably, Grayson didn’t turn his on until after he shot Massey.
The video begins with the officers arriving at the residence and beckoning the woman to come to the front door. After several minutes, she finally appears, walking calmly onto the porch and greeting the officers in a white nightgown.
Ironically, the first thing the woman says to them is, “Somebody is out here, and I need a little help. Please don’t hurt me,” to which Grayson replies, “Why would we hurt you? You called us.”
The officer then asks her, “So what’d you hear?”
“Somebody was outside my house, y’all,” she answered, walking out to the edge of the lawn and cordially speaking to the officers — for the moment, there were no signs of the tragedy to come.
The woman can be heard repeating, “Please God,” several times as the officers ask about a car parked in the driveway but the woman said it wasn’t her vehicle, but she didn’t seem alarmed about it, so the deputies let it go.
The woman, however, insisted that she needed help because she had heard somebody outside.
She asked the officers if they were sure that no one was there. They said yes.
“I don’t know what to do. I need help. I heard somebody outside,” she explained again.
The polite but frustrating exchange goes on for several minutes while the officers try to assure her that everything is all right. Massey has been identified as paranoid-schizophrenic by her daughter.
The conversation draws down as the officers start turning to leave, saying they had checked the yard around the house and the neighbors’ backyards and looked down the block, and saw nothing.
They ask the woman if she needed anything else, and she said no.
“You doing all right mentally?” Grayson asked, acknowledging that he sensed something a little off.
Yes, she answered.
“You sure?” the officer asked again. She reveals that she took her medication.
Next, she tells Grayson, “I love y’all, thank y’all,” and starts to close the front door, but then Grayson grins slightly and stops her to ask again about the Black SUV parked in the driveway.
Massey maintained it was not hers but that someone had left it there, prompting the second officer to walk around the side of the house to run the plates.
In the background, Grayson can be heard asking the woman, “Does anyone live here with you?” It’s not clear how Massey responded as the officer with the bodycam walked away for a moment to check the car.
Back at the front door, Grayson started asking to see the woman’s ID, saying he wanted to attach a name to the 911 call.
Loud blasts from fireworks can be heard going off in the distance.
By the time the second officer made it back to the front door, Grayson had already walked inside and closed the screen door behind him. Presumably, the woman invited him inside to retrieve her license. Grayson appears to be checking something when the second officer entered the door behind him, but Massey had not produced her license yet.
While the second officer beamed his flashlight around the home, Massey answered a call from the 911 dispatcher on speaker phone and told the man on the line that the deputies had arrived, but when the dispatcher tried to let her go she insisted he stay on the line, prompting the dispatcher to ask why.
In the background, Grayson tried to alert the dispatcher to go ahead and hang up but it’s not clear if he did.
Grayson has his pen and pad out while asking the woman for her name, but then he gives up and asks her to hand over her license, insisting that she was “not in any trouble.”
Massey then offers to show the officers her “paperwork,” which confused them.
The woman admitted she couldn’t find her license and begins fumbling around to find it in the cluttered living room.
At the same time, the pot in the kitchen began whistling.
The climax of the footage shows Grayson ordering Massey to move a pot of hot water from the stove to an open counter in the kitchen.
Massey notices Grayson appeared nervous and asked what’s the matter. “Hot steaming water,” he answered the woman who was at least 15 feet away and standing behind a large counter that gave her no clear path toward the officers.
“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” the woman began chanting.
Grayson can be seen placing his hand on his service weapon.
That’s when he shouted “aggressively” at the woman, prosecutors said, but it’s not clear what provoked him as Massey appears to be standing non-threateningly in the kitchen but still holding the pot.
“You better not, I swear to God I’ll f—king shoot you right in the f—king face,” he warned nastily, his voice echoing off the walls of the small home.
In a split second, Grayson drew his 9 mm pistol at Massey from across the room, yelling, “Drop the f—king pot!”
Terrified, Massey instinctively put her hands up but was still holding the pot, saying, “I’m sorry,” as she ducked for cover.
Grayson kept his gun trained on the woman, still yelling, “Drop the f—king pot!”
As Massey peeked over the counter, Grayson opened fire, three shots blaring from his gun, with at least one bullet hitting Massey in the face.
The second officer also pulled his gun but did not fire. “I’m gonna go get my kit,” he said as Massey lay on the floor in her own blood.
But Grayson tried to stop the second deputy from helping the woman.
“No, it’s a headshot. She done. You can go get it, but that’s a headshot … there’s nothing you can do, man.”
Grayson added, seemingly under the impression that his life was the one at risk. “What else do we do? I’m not taking hot (expletive) boiling water to the (expletive) face.”
“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.”
Grayson repeated his claims of being in fear for his life to responding officers, “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 with boiling water.”
After stepping out of the home to a herd of other officers as a supervisor accesses the scene, Grayson says: “Oh, I am good. That b—h was f—ing crazy!”
Meanwhile, Grayson’s partner could not keep his composure as he took deliberate deep breaths while holding onto a storage container in the trunk of his patrol car. The other deputy’s hand also shook uncontrollably as he seemed to get emotional behind the trunk’s lid.
Before the fatal encounter, Massey placed a 911 call in the middle of the night to report a prowler at her residence in the 2800 block of Hoover Avenue, where deputies arrived shortly before 1 a.m., according to her family’s attorney.
Minutes later, Massey was shot.
She died the same night at St. John’s Hospital. The two deputies involved were unharmed.
The reasons for Grayson’s actions were unclear from the start as sheriff’s officials remained tight-lipped about what took place, whether Massey was armed, or how many times she was shot.
The release of the video has since resolved many of the questions that haunted the family in the immediate aftermath of Massey’s slaying.
Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, insists that charges alone are not enough.
“We’re asking for full transparency on every level. How he was hired, the 9-1-1 calls, the communications, all of the video, everything. We won’t stop. We’re not satisfied with charges. We won’t be satisfied until we get whole justice for Sonya Massey.”
The Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department issued a statement the same day of the shooting, saying the deputies arrived at about 12:50 a.m., searched the area around Massey’s home, and that around 1:21 a.m. “the deputies reported that shots had been fired, resulting in a female being struck by gunfire.”
Four days after the shooting, Sheriff Jack Campbell posted to Facebook, saying that it is “imperative” for the sheriff’s office to “protect the integrity of the investigation by awaiting” the results of the ongoing investigation.
“My normal procedure is to respond to inquiries and to give public statements in regard to major events. And as an elected official, that is always my instinct,” Campbell wrote. “In this case, it would not be appropriate. I’m asking for the public and the media to be patient as we seek the facts surrounding this tragic event.”
Later that day, Illinois State Police issued a statement saying they would share more details with Massey’s family when appropriate.
The victim’s family, friends and attorneys pushed for a swift investigation.
Massey’s family first watched the body camera footage on July 18, and the redacted copy was released to the public on Monday.
Campbell later denounced Grayson’s actions in a statement that also announced his termination.
“The actions taken by Deputy Grayson do not reflect the values and training of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office or law enforcement as a whole,” Campbell wrote. “Good law enforcement officers stand with our community in condemning actions that undermine the trust and safety we strive to uphold. In times like these, it is crucial for leadership across all sides and spectrums to come together to heal our community.”
