Shocking Body Camera Footage Shows Sonya Massey's Violent Last Moments

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Body camera footage released Monday shows how a routine police call turned tense and deadly in a matter of seconds, with a sheriff’s deputy who is now charged with murder shooting a Springfield woman in the head.

The recordings chronicle what happened around 1 a.m. July 6 in the 2800 block of Hoover Avenue, when Sangamon County sheriff’s deputies, including former deputy Sean Grayson, responded to a 911 call from Sonya Massey about a suspected prowler.

In the video, Massey, who was Black, takes several minutes to answer the door and, upon hearing from deputies that they’ve checked the area surrounding her house, repeatedly tells them she’s trying to get help and doesn’t know what to do.

The deputies go inside to get her name, the video shows, and, upon being prompted by one of the deputies, who says, “We don’t need a fire while we’re here,” Massey goes to check something on the stove. Massey sometimes appears uncertain or distracted when interacting with the deputies, but the tone of their visit is generally friendly as one of them tells her he’s moving “away from your hot steaming water” as he steps away from the kitchen while she moves a pot off the stove.

“Away from my hot steaming water?” she replies. “Oh, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

The mood then shifts drastically, as Grayson threatens to shoot her in the face, according to the video. She apologizes and ducks behind a counter as the deputies both draw guns and shout at her to drop the pot that she had been holding, but she appears to have left it near the sink area of her kitchen counter when she ducked. She then pops back up and is seen holding what appears to be the pot as three shots are heard and water is visible on the kitchen floor.

One of the deputies quickly offers to get his medical kit, but Grayson responds that, “She’s done. You can go get it but that’s a head shot.” Both deputies appear distressed, one deputy attempts to slow the bloodflow as Massey gasps and Grayson leaves to retrieve his medical kit, the video shows.

In the background, Grayson can be heard telling other emergency personnel who have arrived in response to the shooting that, “She said she was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus and came at me with boiling water.”

“The body camera footage is horrific, and I offer my deepest sympathy to Sonya Massey’s family as they relive a moment no family should experience,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said Monday in a prepared statement. “As the community reacts to the release of the footage, I urge calm as this matter works its way through the criminal justice system.”

Grayson was terminated after the shooting and charged with three counts of first-degree murder as well as aggravated battery with a gun and official misconduct, according to authorities, who said he remained in custody. If convicted, he faces prison sentences of 45 years to life for murder, six to 30 years for battery and two to five years for misconduct. His lawyer, Daniel Fultz, declined comment on Monday.

Ben Crump, the noted civil rights attorney who is representing Massey's family, told the crowd at her funeral in Springfield on Friday that the video would reveal a crime as startling as the 1955 lynching of Chicago teenager Emmitt Till in Mississippi, the Chicago police shooting of Laquan McDonald and the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd.

"It is going to shock the conscience of America. It is that senseless, that unnecessary, that unjustifiable, that unconstitutional," 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?"

On Tuesday, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly issued a statement saying that with "strong cooperation" from Massey's family and the Sangamon County State's Attorney, ISP conducted an investigation into Grason.

"Humanity must be at the heart and soul of righteous law enforcement," Kelly said. "Inhumane conduct in the form of unlawful violence is a betrayal of the public trust, a betrayal of an officer's oath, and a betrayal of the men and women in law enforcement who serve with humanity, patience and courage every day — it will not be tolerated anytime or anywhere."

Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke out in the wake of Massey's death.

"Sonya Massey deserved to be safe. After she called the police for help, she was tragically killed in her own home at the hands of a responding officer sworn to protect and serve," Harris' statement said.

She continued:

Our thoughts are also with the communities across our nation whose calls for help are often met with suspicion, distrust, and even violence. The disturbing footage released yesterday confirms what we know from the lived experiences of so many – we have much work to do to ensure that our justice system fully lives up to its name.

I join President Biden in commending the swift action of the State’s Attorney’s Office and in calling on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill that I coauthored in the Senate. In this moment, in honor of Sonya’s memory and the memory of so many more whose names we may never know, we must come together to achieve meaningful reforms that advance the safety of all communities.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.