Murder Charge: Illinois Cop Who Shot Black Woman In The Head At Her Home After She Called 911 Is Indicted

July 19, 2024 4

Sean Patrick Grayson, Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed Sonya Massey, a Black woman, in her own home

Sean Patrick Grayson. | Source: Sangamon County Jail

The Illinois police officer who shot and killed a Black woman in her own home after she called 911 to report a suspected break-in has been charged with charged with murder more than two weeks after he fired the fatal shots.

Now-former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, 30, was formally charged on Wednesday in the homicide of Sonya Massey, 36, who called the police on July 6 for emergency help at her home in Springfield. In addition to being charged with three counts of murder, Grayson was also indicted for alleged aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct.

Sonya Massey, 36 years old, called the police because she thought someone was trying to break into her house.

They shot and killed her. https://t.co/EUEhNYbCvi pic.twitter.com/2L9B1RSTPh

— Courtney Enlow (@courtenlow) July 10, 2024

The arrest of Grayson was hailed by the attorney representing Massey’s family as an important first step toward securing justice for her killing.

“Today marks an important milestone in the pursuit of justice for Sonya Massey’s family. While nothing can undo the heinous actions of this officer, we hope the scales of justice will continue to hold him accountable and we will demand transparency at every step,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement sent to NewsOne. “This news is a step toward justice for Sonya’s loved ones, especially her children, who have endured unimaginable pain and suffering since they were notified of this tragedy. We remain committed to uncovering the truth of what happened and identifying the failures that allowed this tragic death to occur.”

The Illinois Times reported that Grayson is not being held at the Sangamon County Jail and that it’s unclear where he is. Grayson has since been fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.

What happened to Sonya Massey?

The police reported that there were shots fired about a half-hour after arriving at Massey’s home in the early morning hours of July 6. Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputies reportedly rendered medical aid to Massey to no avail, and she was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The county coroner said Massey’s official cause of death was a gunshot wound.

There were no reports of Massey being armed or exhibiting behavior that would justify killing someone who called the police for help.

The deputies involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave but were not identified.

It was unclear whether a suspected intruder was ever located.

But that is seemingly just about all the information that the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office and the Illinois State Police – the latter of which is investigating the shooting – are willing to make public in the shooting, leaving Massey’s family and neighbors demanding to know more.

Massey’s family quickly retained Crump as their lawyer. Crump said Massey was shot in the head. Crump called for immediate transparency from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office and condemned the shooting as excessive.

“It is extremely hard to imagine how a woman who calls the police out of fear of an intruder ends up shot in the head by the police at her own home,” Crump previously said. “We demand that all body camera footage from this incident be released immediately so that Sonya’s family and the public can see what happened in those thirty deadly minutes. No family should have to endure the pain and suffering that Sonya’s loved ones are experiencing right now.”

Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser said that the bodycam video footage from the shooting would be released on Monday. “Nothing has been redacted except for the blurring of certain images, which was done out of respect for Ms. Massey and her family,” Milhiser said of the bodycam video footage.

Massey’s funeral has been scheduled for Friday.

The trend of police killing Black people in their own homes

Massey’s death marks the latest instance of police killing a Black person in their own home.

Most recently, a deputy in Florida shot and killed Senior Airman Roger Fortson after responding to what turned out to be a false report of an unspecified disturbance in his apartment. Fortson, 23, was shot in his own apartment on May 3 within seconds of opening his front door after Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Eddie Duran responded aggressively to a report of a domestic “disturbance” that a witness claims never existed at that location.

Less than a week after Fortson was killed, the initial shooting narrative provided by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office was definitively undermined by that witness – Fortson’s girlfriend – who said the police responded to the wrong apartment.

Bodycam video footage shows Duran banging loudly on an apartment door. When Fortson – possibly suspecting an intruder – answered the door while brandishing a legally owned gun that was facing down, Duran immediately opened fire and shot the young Airman six times.

It would be one full month before Duran was fired. However, as of Friday, there have been no criminal charges brought in the shooting.

Other notable cases of the police shooting and killing Black people in their own homes include Botham Jean, who died after an off-duty Dallas cop mistook his apartment for hers and incorrectly suspected him as an intruder; Atatiana Jefferson, who was shot through her own bedroom window by a Fort Worth police officer who didn’t identify himself or give a warning; and Breonna Taylor, who was killed in a hail of bullets after police in Louisville executed a no-knock warrant in search of a suspect who was already in custody.

The officers who killed Jean and Jefferson were each subsequently charged with and convicted of murder. However, none of the police officers involved in Taylor’s death have been held accountable.

This is America.

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