SPRINGFIELD, Illinois — A captivated crowd watched a video of a deputy sheriff this week fatal shooting of Sonya Masseya 36-year-old black woman who called 911 for help in her Illinois home.
Sean Grayson, 14 months into his career as a deputy sheriff for Sangamon County in the center of the state, is accused of murder in the death of Massey, the latest example of police officers shooting Black people in their homes through the whole country.
Here’s what we know about the shooting and the former deputy could now face years in prison if found guilty.
At 12:50 a.m. on July 6, Massey called 911 because she feared someone was snooping around her home in an unincorporated neighborhood of Springfield, 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Chicago.
Video footage from body cameras worn by Grayson and another officer shows a search of Massey’s home and surrounding yards. They found a black SUV with broken windows in an adjacent driveway before Massey came to the front door. When Massey opened the door, she said, “Don’t hurt me,” appeared confused and repeated, “Please, God,” and said, “I don’t know what to do.”
It is unclear why Massey and Grayson, followed by the other officer, entered the house.
Grayson asked for her name to put on a report as officers prepared to leave. Massey searched her purse for ID when Grayson pointed to a pot over a flame on the stove.
Massey quickly walked to the stove, moved the pot to the sink, and asked Grayson, “Where are you going?” He had taken a step back and stood in the living room of the small house, separated from her by a cluttered countertop.
Grayson and Massey laughed as he responded, “Get away from your hot, steaming water.” Massey then unexpectedly said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” at which point Grayson pulled out his 9mm pistol and told her, “You better not do that (expletive) or I swear to God I’m going to shoot you (expletive) in your (expletive) face.”
He repeatedly yelled at Massey to put the pot down. She apologized and ducked before Grayson fired three times, hitting Massey once in the head.
A grand jury indicted Grayson on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a firearm and official misconduct. If convicted, he faces 45 years to life in prison for murder, six to 30 years for assault and two to five years for misconduct.
He is being held in the Menard County Jail without bail. He has pleaded not guilty, and his defense attorney declined to comment on the case.
The mother of two — 17-year-old Malachi Hill Massey and 15-year-old Jeannette “Summer” Massey — came from a large family with many cousins who considered her a sister.
“She was loving, caring. Her cousins — she loved her cousins,” Malachi said. “She was just a ball of energy. We’d go everywhere; if she wanted to talk to someone, she’d talk to them. She was just a loving person. She was always helping people, too.”
Massey, who was unemployed, had struggled with mental illness and had been treated for it. That could explain her confusing statement to Grayson: “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” said the family’s attorney, Ben Crump. But it also speaks to her strong religious faith, he said.
During last week’s court hearing, First Assistant District Attorney Mary Beth Rodgers said the distance between Grayson and Massey negated any perceived threat and that he had “many options” besides firing his weapon if he believed he was in danger.
“At no point has this defendant shown anything other than a callousness toward human life,” Rodgers said, adding that Grayson “has clearly rejected his training as a law enforcement officer.”
Massey’s home in the Cabbage Patch neighborhood, named for a massive cabbage farm that stood there more than a century ago, has an open floor plan with the living room separated from the kitchen by a countertop. The video shows Grayson in the living room with Massey on the other side of the countertop, a few feet away.
In the video, Grayson can be heard justifying his actions by saying, “What else are we going to do? I’m not going to throw hot (expletive) boiling water in my (expletive) face.” He can also be heard telling arriving officers that Massey “came at me” and calling her “crazy.”
Grayson, 30, graduated in 2013 from North Mac High School in Virden, 27 miles (43 kilometers) south of Springfield, according to defense attorney Daniel Fultz during last week’s hearing. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2014 and received a general discharge in 2016.
Grayson joined the police department in August 2020 in the first of six jobs in four years, three part-time and three full-time, according to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. The Associated Press requested his employment records from central Illinois agencies in public records requests.
In a July 2020 application to the Pawnee Police Department, he indicated that he was a mechanic and that he performed vehicle maintenance and recovery in the military.
“I am a hardworking and fast learner,” Grayson wrote in the application. “I am looking for a department that will give me the opportunity to show what I can do. I am a team player and a great communicator.”
He also wrote that he had worked as a hospital security guard and as a gardener, and that he had worked in a fitness center for three years.
He joined the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department, a county of 196,300 people, in May 2023. He was fired last Wednesday, the day he was charged.
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Associated Press editor Corey Williams contributed from Detroit.