Sonya Massey is a name you may have been hearing over the past couple weeks — and it’s not going away anytime soon. Her story is important.
On July 6, Sonya called 911 to report a possible “prowler” lurking around her Springfield, Illinois home. But when deputies from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office arrived, they were far more concerned with her — a Black woman sitting alone in her own home — than the possible suspect she reported.
In bodycam footage released from the fatal night, deputy Sean Grayson and another officer are seen arriving at Sonya’s residence. After a bit of discussion on her front porch, the three enter her home. Sonya has a pot of water boiling on the stove, and one of the cops asks her to turn it off, jabbing:
“We don’t need a fire while we’re here.”
Sonya quickly accommodates the officer’s request, turning off the stove and removing the pot of boiling water from the burner. One of the officers steps away and she asks “Where are you going?” He responds, “Away from your hot steaming water.” Sonya responds calmly:
“Away from my hot steaming water? Oh, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Related: Mom Said She Drowned 7-Year-Old Daughter Because She Needed ‘Time Alone’
Halfheartedly asking for clarification, the deputy responds, “Huh?” before Sonya repeats herself. From that point, deputy Grayson escalates the situation to a dangerously high level, snapping at her:
“You better f**king not. I swear to God I’ll f**king shoot you at your f**king face.”
He then draws his firearm! FOR REBUKING HIM?! FOR BEING SARCASTIC?! WTF?! What does he think is happening?!
Sonya quickly ducks and responds, “Okay, I’m sorry,” as Grayson yells at her to “drop the f**king pot.” He then fires three shots, hitting Sonya in the head. It’s a shocking, merciless taking of human life.
After a few seconds of silence, one deputy calls for emergency medical services while informing them shots had been fired. Grayson tells him:
“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 he’s going to get a medkit, but the other officer nonchalantly responds, “Nah, she’s done. You can go get it but that’s a headshot.”
Later when other officers arrive at the scene, Grayson asks if there’s anything that can be done before another cop tells him no. He responds:
“Alright, I’m not even gonna waste my med stuff then.”
He then tells his version of events to the newly arrived law enforcement official, what we assume is a supervisor:
“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.”
Where exactly in the footage did she come at him?? To be clear, that is NOT what happens in the footage. Anything like that is strictly in this man’s mind.
Shockingly, he later adds:
“Yeah I’m good, this f**king b*tch is crazy.”
You can watch the horrifying bodycam footage at your own discretion (below):
What’s telling is that Grayson does not even activate his bodycam footage until AFTER he fatally shot Sonya. But her death is not going without repercussions…
Grayson has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, while he and the other deputy were hit with one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. Grayson was indicted by a grand jury last week and according to court docs, he entered a not guilty plea and was denied pretrial release. At least he’s being held accountable in some way.
But another unnerving layer of this whole incident was revealed in Grayson’s mugshot… On X (Twitter), many have pointed out that the cop sports a Totenkopf tattoo on his forearm, which is a symbol commonly associated with neo-nazis and white supremacist groups. See (below):
So disturbing… Were this officer’s actions — or at the very least, his hastiness — racially motivated? Would the situation have been different if it was a white woman taking a boiling pot of water off the burner? Seems like a pretty easy answer, tbh.
On Monday afternoon, civil rights attorney Ben Crump spoke during a news conference, stating that Massey suffered from mental health issues but was in no way aggressive towards the officers. He chillingly said:
“She needed a helping hand. She didn’t need a bullet to the face.”
So horrible.
Sonya’s father James Wilburn spoke to CNN on Monday, revealing he was initially led to believe Sonya was killed by an intruder — not an officer of the law:
“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. We were led to believe that the intruder – or someone from the neighborhood – may have killed her. We were absolutely shocked to find out that it was a deputy who shot her.”
Did the cops try to sweep this under the rug?! He added:
“You’re used to having ‘the talk’ with boys, but now I guess we have to talk to our girls about … their interactions with the police.”
The grieving father remembered Sonya as a gentle and loving soul:
“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.’”
This situation is utterly shocking, terrifying, brutal, disgusting, and most of all, unnecessary. How many innocent lives will be lost in this way? We hope to see Sean Grayson pay for his actions. But more importantly this is yet another deafening alarm bell about who we allow to be police officers and how we train them. Something in this country needs to change, and it needs to change now.
Rest in peace, Sonya.
[Images via Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office]
