The former deputy sheriff who fatally shot Sonya Massey at her Illinois home earlier last month said he feared for his life after she told him she rebuked him “in the name of Jesus.”
Sean Grayson is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in the the shooting of the 36-year-old mother of two who had called 911 to report a possible prowler outside her house.
Grayson, who has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond, wrote in a recently released deputy’s field report that he thought that Massey’s rebuke comment meant she intended to cause deadly harm.
“I interpreted this to mean she was going to kill me,” the 30-year-old wrote when detailing the actions that ultimately led to the woman’s death.
Massey was shot beneath her left eye, the Sangamon County Coroner’s Office wrote in an autopsy report, adding she “died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head.”
Shortly after the now-fired deputy sheriff drew his pistol, Massey ducked behind a counter, which made Grayson fear she was going to grab a weapon, he wrote in the report released Monday.
Massey, who was Black, called 911 in the early hours of July 6. Grayson and a second unidentified deputy responded to her home in Springfield, some 200 miles southwest of Chicago.
Bodycam footage shows Grayson telling Massey to turn off the heat in her stove, as he observed a pot of boiling water.
When she does, he tells her the deputies were stepping “away from your hot, steaming water.”
“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” she replies, leading Grayson to pull his gun and tell her to “drop the f–ing pot” or he would shoot her “in the f–ing face.”
He then fires three bullets just as she apologizes and ducks behind a counter, the video shows.
In one of several 911 calls placed on the days before the shooting, Massey’s mother told the dispatcher her daughter was “having a mental breakdown,” and pleading “I don’t want you guys to hurt her, please.”
“I’m afraid of the police,” Donna Massey said.
With News Wire Services