Authorities have made public a disturbing video showing a white police officer in Illinois fatally shooting a Black woman who had called the police for help when she feared there was an intruder in her home.
Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old woman, was tragically killed by deputy Sean Grayson of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office in her home in Springfield, the capital of Illinois, on the early morning of July 6. Massey had called the police because she believed there was an intruder attempting to break into her home. When the police arrived, they used flashlights to search her home. Deputy Grayson, who is white, and his partner eventually entered Massey’s home and began talking to her.
Following the initial conversation and a request for Sonya Massey’s driver’s license, Deputy Grayson noticed a pot of boiling water on the stove and instructed Massey to remove it to prevent a fire. As Massey approached the pot, the officers visibly distanced themselves from her, prompting Massey to question where were they going. Grayson jokingly replied that they were moving away from the hot water. Despite the lighthearted exchange, Grayson then approached Massey with his gun drawn as she began to kneel behind a counter with her hands raised.
After threatening to shoot her, Massey ducked and then briefly stood up as Grayson fired his pistol at her three times. Authorities mentioned that Massey had called 911 earlier to report a suspected prowler. The video footage showed the two deputies arriving just before 1 a.m. on July 6, walking around the house and discovering a black SUV with broken windows in the driveway. It took Massey three minutes to open the door after the deputies knocked, and upon seeing them, she immediately expressed, “Don’t hurt me.” She appeared confused during their conversation at the front door, repeatedly stating that she needed help, mentioning God, and indicating that she did not know who owned the car.
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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.