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Springfield, Illinois – A White police officer now faces murder charges after he justifiably shot a mentally ill Black woman in self-defense.
Newly released body cam footage of the July 6th incident was released on Monday. The videos clearly show a woman, identified as Black 36-year-old Sonya Massey, attempting to toss a pot of boiling water at her target, former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson.
Police first arrived at Massey’s home responding to a 911 call of a suspected “prowler” outside. After briefly searching the area, the deputies then interacted with Massey—a woman described as having a history of mental health issues—at her front door before heading inside.
Bodycam footage shows the officers laughing and exchanging pleasant words while Massey searches for some paperwork on the couch. When one of the officers notices a pot of boiling water on the stove, Massey gets up to retrieve it while the officers step away.
Massey can then be heard asking why the officers were distancing themselves from her. When the officers reply it’s because of the boiling water, Massey bizarrely states, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus” numerous times.
Deputy Grayson can then be heard using expletives to warn Massey against doing anything with the pot of boiling water that could harm them, stating he would “shoot (her) in the face” if she tried. He then pulls out his 9mm handgun, prompting Massey to duck behind kitchen cabinets and audibly apologize.
Despite several commands to set the pot of boiling water down, Massey disregards the officers. Bodycam footage then shows Massey peek up from behind cover, raise the pot over her head, and toss the contents towards Grayson. Reports state that Grayson then fired his duty weapon more than twice, neutralizing Massey with a reported “headshot.”
The bodycam footage then shows the aftermath of the shooting as officers contemplate what to do next. Steam from the pot of boiling water could be seen rising from the floor in the wake of Massey’s attack. At the same time, a remorseful Grayson opined that additional medical help on an obvious fatality would be a waste of time.
“Not with a head shot… She’s done,” he says. According to the Illinois State Police, Massey was declared dead at an area hospital.
What came next was an unprecedented whirlwind of scrutiny on Deputy Grayson. For shooting a Black suspect, the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office immediately declared that White officer Grayson had not been “justified in his use of deadly force.”
Their findings, made possible by a suspiciously quick third-party investigation by the ISP, appeared to completely ignore the boiling water attack, history of mental illness, and non-compliant behavior expressed by Massey.
Even Massey’s father was shocked at how quickly the White officer faced top-down disciplinary action.
“In 10 days, they convened a grand jury. They completed their investigation. They arrested, they got him fired,” said James Wilburn at his daughter’s funeral. “That’s unheard of.”
As a result, Grayson was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery, and official misconduct. He pleaded not guilty on Thursday and has since been fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the latest US Census report, Springfield, Illinois, is 67.99% White alone, down from 80.31% in the year 2000. Sangamon State’s Attorney John C. Milhiser, whose office issued the charges, is a Republican and previously served as a federal prosecutor appointed by then-President Donald Trump.
If convicted, Grayson faces up to life in prison behind bars.
“First and foremost, my heart breaks for the family and friends of Sonya Massey,” read a Facebook statement. “The actions taken by Deputy Grayson do not reflect the values and training of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office or law enforcement as a whole. Good law enforcement officers stand with our community in condemning actions that undermine the trust and safety we strive to uphold.”
So far, the incident has sparked protests and drawn the attention of powerful figures in American media, law, and the federal government, whose most prominent voices have come out to outdo one another in their denunciations of the White cop.
Labeling him a “racist” and “murderer,” they used the death of Massey to apparently “revive” Black Lives Matter sentiment in the twilight hours of a critical election year.
At Massey’s highly publicized funeral, the notorious Black race huckster Ben Crump—who is now representing the Massey family in their search for monetary compensation—equated her shooting to the lynching of Black sex pest Emmett Till. He would even use her own words to attack the idea of law enforcement as a tool of anti-Black hate.
“Until we get justice for Sonya Massey, we rebuke this discriminatory criminal justice system in the name of Jesus,” he said.
Black supremacists like Tariq Nasheed were also quick to attack Grayson, baselessly asserting the shooting was racially motivated due to a visible Icelandic vegvísir pagan tattoo on the inner forearm of Grayson’s partner.
“Race soldiers racially executed an innocent Black woman named Sonya Massey, by falsely claiming she was threatening them with boiling water,” said Nasheed on X, formerly Twitter. “Notice the Viking Calendar tattoo on the race soldier’s arm, that is common among white supremacists.”
Shockingly, the outgoing President, Joe Biden—a somewhat reclusive figure since his announcement that he would not seek reelection in 2024—responded personally to the shooting. In an official White House statement, Biden joined Black supremacists and other thought leaders in their condemnation of the White cop.
“Sonya Massey, a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman, should be alive today,” said Biden. “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.”
Additionally, Biden praised the quick action taken by the Springfield State’s Attorney’s office in levying criminal charges against Grayson. He also used the opportunity to promote the controversial George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. This Democrat-hatched legislation would essentially destroy what remains of American law enforcement to further protect non-White criminals.
For his efforts in defending himself from a Black person, Sean Grayson now finds himself face-to-face with a legal and racial crucible common among White men in the United States.
In January, White 39-year-old Carl Ryan Kemppainen, a manager of an auto parts store, was charged with murder and attacked for “racism” after he used deadly physical force to defend himself from an armed Black shoplifter and his alleged accomplice. To this day, Kemppanien asserts that he was innocent.
In December, White 25-year-old Hannah Payne was convicted of Malice Murder for shooting and killing a drunk Black man involved in a hit-and-run incident in self-defense. A tearful Payne had been smeared in the run-up to the trial as a “racist Karen” before ultimately being convicted in a predominately Black county and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Grayson now joins a long list of American police officers facing life-altering criminal charges and prison time for merely “doing their job.”
No individual has faced more scrutiny in this regard than “political prisoner” Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis cop condemned to 22 1/2 years in prison for his actions, which culminated in the death of Black career criminal George Floyd.
Since his imprisonment, Chauvin has been made a pariah, considered one of the world’s worst racists, even facing prison stabbings and other attacks for merely conducting a routine arrest in the summer of 2020.
This is a developing story, and new updates will provided as they become available.
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