SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (news agencies) — Sonya Massey ducked and apologized to an Illinois sheriff’s deputy only seconds before he shot her three times in her home, with one fatal blow to the head, as seen in body camera video released Monday.
The video’s release came days after an Illinois grand jury indicted former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson. Officials said Massey’s family viewed the footage on Wednesday.
The video confirmed prosecutors’ earlier account of the tense moment when Grayson yelled from across a counter at 36-year-old Massey to set down a pot from the stove just seconds after she started pouring the water into the sink and the two chuckled over the “hot steaming water.”
He then threatened to shoot her, Massey ducked, briefly rose and Grayson fired his pistol at her.
Authorities said Massey had called 911 earlier to report a suspected prowler. The video said the two deputies responded just before 1 a.m. on July 6, first walking around the house and finding a black SUV with broken windows in the driveway.
It took Massey three minutes to open the door after the deputies knock, and she immediately said “Don’t hurt me.”
She seemed confused as they spoke at her front door, and repeated that she needed help, referenced God and told them she didn’t know who owned the car.
The video doesn’t show what led Massey and Grayson to walk inside her house, followed by the other unidentified deputy. The deputies seemed exasperated as she sat on her couch and went through her purse as they asked for identification. Then Grayson pointed out a pot sitting on a visible 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 over near a sink. She and Grayson seemed to share a laugh before she 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 said “Drop the (expletive) pot.”
Massey said, “OK, I’m sorry.” In Grayson’s bodycam footage, he pointed his weapon at her. She ducked and raised her hands while still holding two oven mitts.
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.
After Grayson shot her, the other deputy said “I’m gonna go get my kit.”
Grayson said, “No, it’s a headshot. She done. You can go get it, but that’s a headshot … 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 despite losing a lot of blood, he relented and said he would get his kit too. The other deputy responded, “We can at least try to stop the bleeding.”
Speaking to responding police, Grayson told them “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.”
Grayson, who was fired last week, has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He 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 comment on Monday.
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