Deputy Charged with Murder After Shooting Defenseless Black Woman, Sonya Massey, in Her Home

Body-camera footage reveals Deputy Sean Grayson shooting Sonya Massey in her home, leading to murder charges and public outrage.

Written By Danielle Hall // EEW Magazine

Sonya Massey was shot and killed by a responding officer after she called 911, according to officials. (Credit: Ben Crump Law)

Body-camera footage showing the fatal police shooting of 36-year-old Sonya Massey, who had called 911 to report a potential “prowler,” was released Monday, sparking public outrage and cries for justice.

The 36-minute video released by the Illinois State Police includes footage showing two Sangamon County sheriff’s deputies responding to Massey’s house after midnight on July 6. In the footage, Deputy Sean Grayson and another deputy speak calmly with Massey in her home when she goes to the stove to turn off a pot of boiling water. She then picks up the pot, and the other deputy steps back, saying, “away from your hot steaming water.”

Sean Grayson has been fired as a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy after the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey. (Credit: Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office)

“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” Massey says in response.

“Huh?” the deputy says.

“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” she repeats.

“You better f**king not or I swear to God I’ll f**king shoot you in the f**king face,” Grayson says.

He then draws his firearm and points it at her, and she ducks and says, “I’m sorry,” while lifting the pot, the video shows.

“Drop the f**king pot!” both deputies yell.

Three shots are heard. After a few seconds of silence, one deputy says, “shots fired” and calls for emergency medical services.

“Dude, I’m not taking f**king boiling water to the f**king head. And look, it came right to our feet, too,” Grayson says.

The house in Springfield where Sonya Massey was fatally shot earlier this month. (Credit: John O’Connor/Associated Press)

Shortly after the shooting, video captures Grayson telling another law enforcement official, “She had boiling water and came at me with boiling water,” adding, “She said she was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus and came at me with boiling water.”

The release of the video comes about two weeks after the fatal shooting and just days after Grayson was charged in her death.

Grayson, 30, was indicted by a grand jury last week on three counts of first-degree murder and one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He has entered a not guilty plea and was denied pretrial release, according to court records.

In a news conference Monday afternoon, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Massey’s family, said, “Until we get justice for Sonya Massey, we rebuke this discriminatory criminal justice system in the name of Jesus.”

Massey is one of a number of Black women who have been killed by police in their own homes in recent years, including Breonna Taylor and Atatiana Jefferson.

Crump said Massey had mental health challenges but was not aggressive toward the deputies. “She needed a helping hand,” he said. “She didn’t need a bullet to the face.”

Massey’s father, James Wilburn, said he initially received conflicting information from law enforcement.

“I was under the impression that a prowler had broken in and killed my baby. Never did they say that it was a deputy-involved shooting until my brother read it on the internet,” Wilburn said at the news conference.

Wilburn said that his daughter’s death had left him heartbroken.

“Sonya was a daddy’s girl. She never ended a conversation – whether by text or telephone or in person – without saying, ‘Daddy, I love you.’ And that’s the last message I have from my daughter that’s saved on my voicemail, was ‘Daddy, I love you,’” he said.

Crump told CNN’s Laura Coates, “It’s so senseless. I mean, it is disturbing. This video is reminiscent in the last presidential cycle in 2020 when the George Floyd video encouraged our community to act. And in this 2024 election, I believe this Sonya Massey video is going to encourage our community to act – because Sonya Massey deserved better than this.”