Authorities in Illinois have released shocking footage of a White Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy killing a black woman who called 911 fearing an intruder was in her home.
Illinois State Police said Sonya Massey, who is Black, called 911 in the early morning hours on Saturday, July 6, to report a suspected intruder outside her house in Springfield, Illinois, with two officers showing up at the property.
Body cam video shows Massey, a 36-year-old mother of two sitting on her couch, volunteering to give the deputies some paperwork and looking for her ID.
Deputy Sean Grayson then notices a pot on the stove, asks Massey to check on it, and gives her Massey permission to move it. He says they don’t need a fire in the house.
The video then shows Massey turning off the flame on the stove and picking up the pot.
“Where are you going?” Massey is heard saying. “Away from your hot, steaming water,” Grayson says.
“Away from my hot steaming water?” Massey seems to say in the video. “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
“What?” Grayson says.
“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” Massey says.
“You’d better f***ing not. I swear to God, I’ll f***ing shoot you right in your f***ing face,” Grayson says.
He then raises his gun, a 9mm pistol, and yells at Massey to “drop the f***ing pot!”
Massey is seen apologizing and ducking for cover, at which point Grayson shoots her. Three shots are heard in the video.
Grayson did not activate his body camera until after firing the shots, Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser said. But his partner had his on and captured shots.
After the shooting, Grayson allegedly advised his partner not to give medical aid to Massey because of the severity of her injuries. When the other deputy says he is going to get his med kit just after the shooting, Grayson is heard saying: “She’s done. You can go get it, but that’s a headshot.”
Soon after that, Grayson is heard saying to the other deputy: “What else can we do? I’m not taking a pot of boiling water to the f***ing face, and it already reached us.”
Grayson then leaves to get his med kit, as the other officer says they can at least try to stop Massey’s bleeding.
It was also gathered that Grayson claimed that Massey had boiling water and came at him with boiling water.
Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, and official misconduct. He is being held in the Sangamon County Jail while he awaits trial.
“(The video) is going to shock the conscience of America. It is that senseless, that unnecessary, that unjustifiable, that unconstitutional,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump said. “This sheriff’s deputy was twice as large as Sonya. Why would you have to use a gun to shoot her in the head?”
Watch the video below…
