Chilling bodycam footage of Sonya Massey’s murder was released Monday in a case that has led to the filing of murder charges against a sheriff’s deputy.
Earlier this month, Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman and mother of two living in Springfield, Illinois, called 911 for help after believing she heard an intruder coming into her home, say court documents filed by prosecutors and obtained by CNN. After a brief back-and-forth with two Sangamon County sheriff’s deputies, one of them fatally shot her.
Here’s what we know.
A timeline of the shooting
The 36-minute video released by Illinois State Police includes body-camera footage of the two deputies who responded to Massey’s house after midnight on July 6, after she called 911.
At first, deputy Sean Grayson, 30, and another deputy speak calmly with Massey in her home. After telling her they’ve found no lurkers nearby, they spot a pot of boiling water on the stove and ask her to turn it off. She does, and then picks up the pot, prompting the other deputy to step back.
“Where are you going?” she asks.
“Away from your hot, steaming water,” he says.
“Away from my hot, steaming water?” Massey asks, prompting a “Yeah” from Grayson. “Aw,” she says, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
“Huh?” Grayson says.
“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” she repeats.
“You better fucking not. I swear to God I’ll fucking shoot you right in your fucking face,” Grayson says.
At that, he draws his firearm and points it at her. She ducks and quickly says, “Okay—I’m sorry,” while lifting the pot.
“Drop the fucking pot!” both deputies yell.
Then, three shots are heard. After a few moments, and amid more cries of “Drop the fucking pot!” the other deputy yells “Shots fired!” and calls for emergency medical services.
The other deputy starts to leave to get his medical kit to help Massey, but Grayson tells him: “She’s done. You can go get it, but that’s a head shot.”
“Dude, I’m not taking fucking boiling water to the fucking head. And look, it fucking came right to our feet, too,” Grayson says.
What are the charges?
Last week, Grayson was indicted by a grand jury 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. He has since also been fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.
What is being done?
In a news conference Monday, civil-rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Massey’s family in the case, recalled other tragic cases of police violence against Black people across the United States, and specifically of Black women killed by police inside their own homes, like Breonna Taylor and Atatiana Jefferson.
“Until we get justice for Sonya Massey, we rebuke this discriminatory criminal justice system in the name of Jesus,” he said.
Massey’s mother, father, and others in the community gathered in protest and mourning last week.
Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper’s Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets.