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Bodycam shows moment police fatally shot Illinois woman Sonya Massey

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Bodycam shows moment police fatally shot Illinois woman Sonya Massey

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Bodycam shows the moment police fatally shot 36-year-old Sonya Massey, who had called authorities over concerns about a prowler at her home. Illinois State Police released bodycam video of the incident. The video has been blurred by police. NBC News has edited the video for graphic content.

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Bodycam shows moment police fatally shot Illinois woman Sonya Massey

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Bodycam shows moment police fatally shot Illinois woman Sonya Massey

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A step-by-step look at how law enforcement's visit to Sonya Massey's home went so wrong | CNN

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The law enforcement visit to Sonya Massey's home in Springfield, Illinois, began with a calm conversation and ended with Massey in a pool of blood. How did it escalate so quickly?

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The Illinois State Police on Monday released bodycam video of a police officer shooting a Black woman inside her home, sparking nationwide outrage in the United States.

Sonya Massey called the police to report a suspected prowler outside her home. The footage shows two officers entering Massey's home to inform her they found nothing suspicious. However, the situation quickly escalated when Massey approached her stove to tend to a pot of boiling water.

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Here is what to know about the case and the events surrounding Massey's death.

What happened on July 6?

At about 00:50am (05:50 GMT), two Sangamon County sheriff's deputies responded to a call to investigate an incident at Massey's home.

In the footage, the deputies are seen searching around the area before knocking on Massey's door to speak with her.

After knocking on her door, the video reveals her difficulty in responding to some of the questions. When asked "Are you doing alright, mentally", she replies, "Yes, I took my medicine."

According to reports, Massey's family confirmed that she had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Court documents filed by prosecutors said Massey appeared to be "calm, possibly unwell, and non-aggressive".

While one deputy continued searching outside her home, Deputy Sean P Grayson entered her house, followed shortly by the other officer. In the footage, both officers can be observed talking with Massey inside her home.

For a while, the officers interrogate Massey and ask for her ID. They notice a pot of boiling water on the stove, prompting Massey to stand and move to the kitchen to turn off the heat.

"We don't need a fire while we're here," one deputy says.

None of them seems to have any problem with her going over to get the pot.

When she grabs the pot of boiling water, they start moving away from her. She asks them where they were going.

"Away from your hot steaming water," one officer says.

"I rebuke you in the name of Jesus," she answers.

"Huh?" the deputy says.

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

"You better f** not or I swear to God I'll f****** shoot you in the f****** face," Grayson tells her.

He then pulls out his 9mm pistol and aims it at her. She ducks behind the kitchen counter and says, "I'm sorry."

Both officers are seen yelling at her: "Drop the f****** pot", and Grayson takes at least two steps towards her as she tries to move.

According to a Sangamon County news release, at about 1:21am (06:21 GMT), Grayson fired his weapon, hitting Massey three times, with a fatal shot to her head. He is then heard reporting the shooting over the radio.

His partner then says they should get the medical kit and try to help her. "She's done. You can go get it, but that's a headshot," Grayson responds.

Explaining himself to the responding police, Grayson says, "She had boiling water and came at me, with boiling water."

His partner grabs a towel and leans down towards Massey. "She's still gasping a little bit," he notes.

At 1:47am (06:47 GMT), 26 minutes after the shooting took place, Massey is taken to HSHS St John's Hospital emergency room, where she is pronounced dead.

Where did this shooting take place?

The shooting took place in Springfield, about 200 miles (322km) outside of Chicago.

Springfield also has a troubling legacy of racial violence. According to a Guardian report, she passed away at the same hospital where her ancestor William Donnegan died.

Donnegan was lynched during the 1908 Springfield Race Riot, an event that spurred the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Who was the police officer who shot Sonya Massey?

According to a report by The Associated Press news agency, Grayson is a 30-year-old white officer whose career included brief roles as a part-time officer in three small police departments and a full-time position in a fourth department, alongside full-time roles at two sheriffs' offices, all in central Illinois.

Grayson changed jobs six times since 2020, according to a report by CNN. It is not clear why he changed jobs so frequently.

After the shooting, he pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder but was fired by the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office.

"It is clear that the deputy did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards," the sheriff's office said.

He was also charged with three counts of first-degree murder last week and faces a charge of aggravated battery with a firearm and one of official misconduct. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of 45 years for the murder charges.

However, it is rare for officers to be prosecuted and convicted.

"All it takes is one person on a jury to believe an officer who says, 'Look you weren't there; you don't know how much danger I felt while I was there, and, therefore, I feared for my life and that's why I shot.' So that's why many do get off even if they are prosecuted in the first place," Al Jazeera's Shiba Rattansi said reporting from Washington, DC.

Has anything improved since the killing of George Floyd in 2020?

Four years have passed since Minneapolis police handcuffed George Floyd's hands behind his back, pinned him face down on the street and choked the life out of him.

Floyd, 46, was being arrested on suspicion of attempting to pass a counterfeit bill at a neighbourhood convenience store. On May 25, 2020, a white police officer knelt on his neck for nine and half minutes, cutting off oxygen to his brain as he cried out: "I can't breathe."

Caught on video by a bystander, the incident sparked worldwide protests by hundreds of thousands of people that rocked US politics and helped lift Joe Biden to the presidency.

As of July 23, a total of 722 civilians have been killed by the police this year, with Black Americans thrice as likely to have been victims as compared with white people, according to the Mapping Police Violence database.

According to experts, deeper reform is needed.

"Prosecuting police officers sometimes can be very dangerous for the prosecutor politically," J Wydnal Gordon, a civil rights lawyer from Baltimore, told Al Jazeera.

"The law really coddles police officers in the performance of their duties. It's a dangerous job, no doubt ... but our law should [not] protect officers like Mr Grayson," Gordon said.

He added that new reforms are required as the population needs "protections that allow police officers to be held accountable for the wrong that they do".

"So they'll have skin in the game and think twice before they decide whether or not it's necessary to pull the trigger on a woman who's begging for her life and you have plenty of cover and your life is not being endangered in any shape, form or fashion," he added.

What have been the reactions?

President Joe Biden issued a statement, calling Massey "a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman" who "should be alive today".

"Sonya called the police because she was concerned about a potential intruder. When we call for help, all of us as Americans - regardless of who we are or where we live - should be able to do so without fearing for our lives. Sonya's death at the hands of a responding officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not," the US president said.

Sonya's family deserves justice. I am heartbroken for her children and family as they face this unthinkable and senseless loss.

Jill and I mourn with the rest of the country and our prayers are with Sonya's family, loved ones, and community during this devastating time.

- President Biden (@POTUS) July 22, 2024

"Sonya Massey deserved to be safe," Vice President Kamala Harris said. "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."

Sonya Massey deserved to be safe.

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.

President Biden and I call on Congress to pass the...

- Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) July 23, 2024

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement on Monday that the footage was "horrific" and offered his sympathy to Massey's family.

"As the community reacts to the release of the footage, I urge calm as this matter works its way through the criminal justice system," he added.

"The Body Worn Camera footage has now been released, and the public can see what we saw: Sonya Massey lost her life due to an unjustifiable and reckless decision by former Deputy Sean Grayson," Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said on Monday.

"Grayson had other options available that he should have used. His actions were inexcusable and do not reflect the values or training of our office."

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Sonya Massey called the police to report a suspected prowler outside her home, but tensions escalated quickly.

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Sonya Massey, a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman, should be alive today. Sonya called the police because she was concerned about a potential intruder. When we call for help, all of us as Americans - regardless of who we are or where we live - should be able to do so without fearing for our lives. Sonya's death at the hands of a responding officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not.

Sonya's family deserves justice. I am heartbroken for her children and her entire family as they face this unthinkable and senseless loss. Jill and I mourn with the rest of the country and our prayers are with Sonya's family, loved ones, and community during this devastating time.

I commend the swift actions that were taken by the Springfield State's Attorney's office. While we wait for the case to be prosecuted, let us pray to comfort the grieving. Congress must pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act now. Our fundamental commitment to justice is at stake.

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Statement from President Joe Biden on Sonya Massey | The White House

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Sonya Massey, a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman, should be alive today. Sonya called the police because she was concerned about a

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Sonya Massey ducked and apologized to an Illinois sheriff's deputy seconds before he shot the Black woman three times in her home, with one fatal blow to the head, as seen in body camera video released Monday.

An Illinois grand jury indicted former Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputy Sean Grayson, 30, who is white, last week. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct.

The video confirmed prosecutors' earlier account of the tense moment when Grayson yelled from across a counter at Massey to set down a pot of hot water. He then threatened to shoot her, Massey ducked, briefly rose, and Grayson fired his pistol at her.

Authorities said Massey, 36, had called 911 earlier to report a suspected prowler. The video shows the two deputies responded just before 1 a.m. on July 6 at her home in Springfield, 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. They first walked around the house and found a black SUV with broken windows in the driveway.

It took Massey three minutes to open the door after the deputies knocked, and she immediately said, "Don't hurt me."

She seemed confused as they spoke at the door, and she repeated that she needed help, referenced God and told them she didn't know who owned the car.

Inside the house, deputies seemed exasperated as she sat on her couch and went through her purse as they asked for identification to complete a report before leaving. Then Grayson pointed out a pot sitting on a flame on the stove.

"We don't need a fire while we're here," he said.

Massey immediately got up and went to the stove, moving the pot near a sink. She and Grayson seemed to share a laugh over her pan of "steaming hot water" before she unexpectedly said, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus."

"You better (expletive) not or I swear to God I'll (expletive) shoot you in your (expletive) face." He then pulled his 9mm pistol and demanded she drop the pot.

Massey said, "OK, I'm sorry." In Grayson's body camera footage, he pointed his weapon at her. She ducked and raised her hands.

Grayson was still in the living room, facing Massey and separated by a counter dividing the living room and kitchen. Prosecutors have said the separation allowed Grayson both "distance and relative cover" from Massey and the pot of hot water.

After Grayson shot her, Grayson discouraged his partner from grabbing a medical kit to save her.

"You can go get it, but that's a headshot," he said. "There's nothing you can do, man."

He added: "What else do we do? I'm not taking hot (expletive) boiling water to the (expletive) face"

Noting that Massey was still breathing, he relented and said he would get his kit, too. The other deputy said, "We can at least try to stop the bleeding."

Grayson told responding police, "She had boiling water and came at me, with boiling water. She said she was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus and came at me with boiling water."

During a Monday afternoon news conference, the family's lawyer, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, called Grayson's "revisionist" justification "disingenuous."

"She needed a helping hand. She did not need a bullet to her face," Crump said of Massey.

Asked why Massey told Grayson, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus," Crump said she had undergone treatment for mental health issues. He noted that she invoked God's name from the beginning of the encounter and asked for her Bible after the deputies stepped inside.

During Massey's funeral on Friday, Crump said the video, which he and the family had already viewed, would "shock the conscience of America."

Massey's father, James Wilburn, demanded the county court system be completely open with its investigation and prosecution and transparent with the public.

"The only time I will see my baby again is when I leave this world," Wilburn said. "And I don't ever want anybody else in the United States to join this league."

Grayson, who was fired last week, is being held in the Sangamon County Jail without bond. If convicted, he faces prison sentences of 45 years to life for murder, 6 to 30 years for battery and 2 to 5 years for misconduct.

His lawyer, Daniel Fultz, declined to comment Monday.

In a statement, President Joe Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden were praying for Massey's family "as they face this unthinkable and senseless loss."

"When we call for help, all of us as Americans - regardless of who we are or where we live - should be able to do so without fearing for our lives," Biden said. "Sonya's death at the hands of a responding officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not."

Massey's death is the latest example of Black people killed in recent years by police in their homes.

In May, a Hispanic Florida sheriff's deputy shot and killed Roger Fortson, when the Air Force senior airman opened the door of his home in Fort Walton Beach armed with a handgun pointed down. The deputy, Eddie Duran, was fired.

In 2019, a white Fort Worth, Texas, officer fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson through a rear window of her home after responding to a nonemergency call reporting that Jefferson's front door was open. Aaron Dean, the former officer, was of manslaughter and sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison.

In 2018, a white Dallas police officer fatally shot Botham Jean, who was unarmed, after mistaking his apartment for her own. Amber Guyger, the former officer, was of murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Crump has represented families in each case as part of his effort to force accountability for the killings of Black people at the hands of police. Crump also has represented relatives of Earl Moore, a Springfield man who died after he was strapped face down on a stretcher in December 2022. Two emergency medical professionals face murder charges in that case.

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AP writer Sophia Tareen contributed from Chicago.

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Bodycam video reveals chaotic scene of deputy fatally shooting Sonya Massey, who called 911 for help

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Officials have released body camera video that reveals a chaotic scene in which a Black woman in Springfield, Illinois, who called 911 for help was shot in the face in her home by a white sheriff's deputy.

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Every 28 Hours Plays production from 2016

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Every 28 Hours Plays production from 2016

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Every 28 Hours is a show with 90 playwrights and one message: Black lives matter.

Keep your weekends full of the coolest things to do around Boston with our weekly Weekender newsletter.

In recent years, the claim that every 28 hours an unarmed black person is killed by law enforcement has spread across the Internet. While the reality is more complicated than that (the Washington Post dug into the ways this statistic was misinterpreted from a study), the sentiment behind it, and the growing awareness of the injustices committed against people of color ensure that the phrase will stay in the popular lexicon for its substance, if not its pinpoint accuracy.

The claim is the namesake for the Every 28 Hours Plays , a nationwide collaboration of theater artists that formed following the killing of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson and the city's subsequent unrest.

Spearheaded by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's community producer Claudia Alick in collaboration with Dominic D'Andrea, producing artistic director and founder of the traveling theater company One-Minute Play Festival, Every 28 Hours is inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. It responds to and explores an American landscape marred by racial inequality, addressing the question by its creators: "Every 28 hours, every 48, every 98-how many hours would it take for this not to be a national issue of vital importance?"

While it debuted in Ferguson and St. Louis, has now become a national performance movement made up of over 70 one-minute plays by 90 playwrights across the country, tackling issues such as police brutality, racial profiling, microaggressions, violence, and white guilt. Presented by Company One Theatre in collaboration with the Boston Arts Academy, Central Square Theater, Harvard Black Community and Student Theater Group, and t he Theater Offensive , Every 28 Hours will open for a one-day-only performance at the Museum of Fine Arts' Remis Auditorium this Saturday.

" We're at the point in America right now that we already know that privilege exists [and] that systematic injustices happen every single day," s ays Company One's assistant to the artistic director Phaedra Scott, who took the role of lead artistic producer for Every 28 Hours . "Now we have to do the hard stuff, which is fixing it."

Before moving to Boston a little over a year ago, Scott lived in Cleveland, Ohio on a street that happened to be the one on which 12-year-old was shot and killed by police officer Timothy Loehmann in November 2014. "At the time I was working at a theater company there and there was no response," Scott recalls. "I felt so isolated and alone being in what was a broken city after [Rice], but one where nobody said anything."

Every 28 Hours is split into nine sections with themes such as "Protest," "Police," "Mothers," and "History." For Boston, there will be another section added, titled "Black Queerness."

"Black Queerness" was created by the Theatre Offensive (TTO), whose mission involves the inclusion and expansion of queer voices in theater, particularly through outreach programs and working with LGBTQ communities throughout the city. "We wanted playwrights to [be able to] write short plays about black queerness." says Josean Ortiz, the community programs manager who will be directing two plays and performing in one. "It's important for us to speak about the queer experience around Black Lives Matter."

Company One's resident playwright and Boston University professor Kirsten Greenidge, known for her award-winning play Milk Like Sugar , is also a contributor to Every 28 Hours . Greenidge's play revolves around an African American mother and her young son waiting for a bus. "A woman is waiting with them and makes a lot of judgments about why the young boy has a lot of energy," says Greenidge.

Greenidge's play tackles the stereotypes imposed on black men, suggesting that society's perception of them as aggressive or dangerous begins young. "I wanted to address black male behavior in public before we get to the point where black males are being targeted in ostensibly violent ways," says Greenidge. "I'm the mom of a black son and I see it a lot. I'm particularly aware that my son is a black child in public space and in America that often means he's a black child in a white space."

Greenidge also notes that an important aspect of Every 28 Hours is its adaptability: "What's wonderful about Every 28 Hours is how mobilizing it's been. When Ferguson happened I remember feeling at a loss as to how the black artistic community could respond in a way that felt lasting."

But she hopes the show proves to be a good way for artists to address social injustice, saying, "One travesty would be is that it gets created and it's this monolithic work that goes around to different communities and doesn't change or respond to the different artists that live in those communities."

After the performance, there will be activities for audience members, including a facilitated 45-minute discussion and a magnetic poetry wall. Aspiring playwrights can attend a one-minute play workshop led by Greenidge and TTO's youths program manager and playwright Sidney Monroe. The goal is that the production's message will reverberate long after the plays end. As Scott says, "That way it's like we haven't forgotten. These responses are real. We have to keep the conversation going."
Free, November 5, 2 p.m., the Harry and Mildred Remis Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave. Tickets available day of, 10 a.m., at the MFA, www.mfa.org

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Watch 80 One-Minute Plays at the Museum of Fine Arts

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'Every 28 Hours,' a Black Lives Matter-inspired production of 80 one-minute plays by over 90 playwrights nationwide will be at the Museum of Fine Arts.

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Every 28 Hours Plays Palestine Action - Calling Up Justice!

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Every 28 Hours Plays podcast was recorded by Calling Up Justice and edited by Gifted Sounds. Reading of Equal Parts by Jake Margolin features verbatim text from Ferguson residents who were helped by Palestinians during the uprising following the extrajudicial killing of Michael Brown by officers of the state.

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Nikkole was one of 90 US playwrights across the nation to contribute to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival/One-Minute Play Festival's collaboration,

E28H @ The Kennedy Center

On April 12th at 6pm, The Kennedy Center, as part of its American College Theater Festival on the Millennium Stage, presents a raw, script-in-hand preview of the Every 28 Hours Plays. This collection of new plays, developed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the One Minute Play Festival, created and curated by artists and theatres across the nation, asks us to examine the realities of race relations in America. Livestream can be viewed here: http://www.kennedy-center.org/video/upcoming

Free, but reservation required.

Trinity Reperatory Theatre

Free and open to the public.

3 minutes. 10+ actors. A commission of the EVERY 28 HOURS PLAYS , a collection of 90 one-minute plays on the epidemic of police murders of Black people in the US. The piece serves as the finale.

San Francisco Chronicle - Feature
By Lily Janiak

October 24, 2016

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The last play of the 36 very short (often just a minute long) pieces that made up the evening's bill on Oct. 22, Nikkole Salter's "Unknown Thousands," isn't the kind of work that makes you want to leap to your feet to cheer...What makes Salter's "Unknown Thousands" stand out among the "Every 28 Hours" plays isn't just that FaultLine gives it prime real estate, as the concluding piece of the evening; it's also the way the script crystallizes what the show and the Black Lives movement as a whole are all about...In the way the piece derives its power from naming the forgotten, witnessing "Unknown Thousands" is like visiting the Vietnam War Memorial. If that monument responds to both the government's ineptitude in a particular war and the dehumanization inherent in all wars, Salter's script offers a corrective, albeit a small one, to the dehumanization in both recent police brutalities and in any act of racism."

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Nikkole was one of 90 US playwrights across the nation to contribute to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival/One-Minute Play Festival's collaboration, E28H @ The Kennedy Center On April 12th at 6pm, The Kennedy Center, as part of its American College Theater Festival on the Millennium Stage, presents a raw, script-in-hand preview of the Every 28 Hours Plays.