In a case that has draw the attention of President Biden, the Illinois State Police on Monday released disturbing body camera footage that showed a sheriff’s deputy fatally shooting a woman in the head in an exchange over a pot of water.
The footage shows the moments on July 6 when Sean Grayson, a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy who was fired after the episode and is now charged with murder, shot the woman, Sonya Massey, 36, inside her home. Ms. Massey, who was Black, had called the police early that morning because she believed an intruder had entered her home in Springfield, Ill., according to her lawyers.
Mr. Grayson, who is white, and another deputy, who has not been identified, arrived at Ms. Massey’s home and searched the front of the home and backyard, video shows. They then knocked on her door, and told her that they hadn’t found anyone outside.
The deputies followed Ms. Massey inside and asked her for identification while she sat on a sofa, footage shows. Ms. Massey then got up to remove a pot of hot water from the stove. As she was handling the pot, several feet away from the deputies, Ms. Massey said twice to the deputies, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Mr. Grayson told Ms. Massey that she “better not,” using expletives.
“I swear to God,” he said, warning her that he would shoot her in the face.
Within seconds, Mr. Grayson drew his gun, ordered Ms. Massey to drop the pot, and fired at least two shots at her, the video shows.
Mr. Grayson was then heard talking into a radio, saying there was a woman with a headshot wound. Ms. Massey was later pronounced dead at a hospital, according to the State Police.
The Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office said in a statement on Monday that evidence showed Mr. Grayson had not been “justified in his use of deadly force.”
Mr. Grayson was charged last week with first-degree murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct, and he entered a plea of not guilty on Thursday. After an internal investigation, the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office said last week that Mr. Grayson had been fired after the inquiry made it “clear that the deputy did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards.”
Mr. Grayson was being held on Monday without bond. Dan Fultz, a lawyer for Mr. Grayson, declined to comment about the footage on Monday.
At a funeral for Ms. Massey on Friday, Ben Crump, a lawyer representing her family, said that the video would “shock the conscience of America.”
“This video is tragic in every sense” Mr. Crump said. “This sheriff’s deputy was twice as large as Sonya.”
After Mr. Grayson fired at Ms. Massey, his partner said he was going to get a kit to attend to Ms. Massey, the video shows.
“She’s done,” Mr. Grayson said. “You can go get it, but that’s a head shot.”
While they waited for medical crews to respond, the other deputy grabbed a cloth in the kitchen and held it to Ms. Massey’s head.
“We can at least try to stop the blood,” the deputy said.
President Biden said in a statement on Monday that he was “heartbroken” for the family of Ms. Massey.
“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,” he 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.”
In a statement on Monday, Kwame Raoul, the Illinois attorney general, described the footage as “horrific.”
“As the community reacts to the release of the footage,” Mr. Raoul said, “I urge calm as this matter works its way through the criminal justice system.”
The post Illinois State Police Releases Footage of Deputy Fatally Shooting Woman appeared first on New York Times.
