IL - Sonya Massey Shot To Death In Her Own Home by Sangamon County Deputy After Calling to Report a Prowler, Springfield 6 July 2024

[steeltowngirl]

Imagine that being your job every day?

It won’t be Sean Grayson’s job anymore. Thankfully.

jmo

 

[MollyDDD]

The speed of the escalation is what stuns me. There is a fairly routine encounter, she calls, they respond, look around, talk to her on the porch, very calm and normal and he says something about "is there anything else we can do for you." implying they are about to leave, she responds a bit odd and he says something about, "are you doing ok, you know mentally" or something to that effect. He seems to detect that she might not be totally ok. They go in, he is getting some identification, again all calm and pleasant, she goes to move the water and he just completely changes, pulls the gun and warns her he will shoot her in the face. I don't get it. If he really felt threatened, just back off and out the front door.

Perhaps he felt that she was challenging his authority and his guard went up by whatever it was that she said to him, as she went to move the boiling water. JMOO
Disclaimer: I am not defending his actions or making excuses for why he shot her. She did not deserve to die that day. Thank you.

 

[MollyDDD]

They signed up for it. They know what's involved. They can always QUIT.

If only he had.

Maybe they will.

 

[sunspun]

This has absolutely broken my heart and infuriated me. MOO but "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus Christ" isn't a super weird thing to say, Sonya was only expressing her disapproval to the officer implying she was going to throw the water at him. Again just my opinion. Additionally, I'd like to see measurements or floor plans of the property in order to gauge just how much the threat of the boiling water posed - shooting THREE times is absolutely an overreaction and hopefully the prosecution will take all measures necessary to show just how much of an overreaction it was. It escalated soooo quickly it's terrifying.

Imo, it doesn't matter how big or small her place was, because they could have just turned around and walked out. No one was blocking their access to the front door. She had not done anything yet that broke any laws, so there was nothing wrong with them just leaving her there, ending their interaction with her, and just walked right back out the same door they came in.

If they really thought their work there was not yet done and they shouldn't leave just yet, all they had to do was STEP BACK a few feet. She wasn't much of a threat to them where they were, imo, but if they had moved back just a few feet away from her, she would have certainly been no threat at all and they would've been in absolutely no danger.

Why was that asking too much for them to do? Why was it so important for him to remain rooted in the spot he was in, if he really thought she was about to throw boiling water on him? When that thought formed in his mind, that she might be thinking of harming him, that's when he decided she had to die. Or at least that's when he thought that he would have to kill her.

That's why he never moved. When he suddenly thought he was in danger from her, his first thought, his first INSTINCT should have been to move AWAY from her. But instead, his first instinct was to HURT her. To kill her. So it wasn't because he felt he was in danger or that he feared for his life, it was because he was OFFENDED. Because she had offended him. And apparently, that's a very dangerous thing to do to a man like him when he's holding a lethal weapon and has been given the authority to use it to kill a person if he decides to. I'm afraid there are way too many men like him in that same position. Some women too, but many more men. I wish there were a better way to police the citizenry than what we have.

 

[celinesleuth]

Imo, it doesn't matter how big or small her place was, because they could have just turned around and walked out. No one was blocking their access to the front door. She had not done anything yet that broke any laws, so there was nothing wrong with them just leaving her there, ending their interaction with her, and just walked right back out the same door they came in.

If they really thought their work there was not yet done and they shouldn't leave just yet, all they had to do was STEP BACK a few feet. She wasn't much of a threat to them where they were, imo, but if they had moved back just a few feet away from her, she would have certainly been no threat at all and they would've been in absolutely no danger.

Why was that asking too much for them to do? Why was it so important for him to remain rooted in the spot he was in, if he really thought she was about to throw boiling water on him? When that thought formed in his mind, that she might be thinking of harming him, that's when he decided she had to die. Or at least that's when he thought that he would have to kill her.

That's why he never moved. When he suddenly thought he was in danger from her, his first thought, his first INSTINCT should have been to move AWAY from her. But instead, his first instinct was to HURT her. To kill her. So it wasn't because he felt he was in danger or that he feared for his life, it was because he was OFFENDED. Because she had offended him. And apparently, that's a very dangerous thing to do to a man like him when he's holding a lethal weapon and has been given the authority to use it to kill a person if he decides to. I'm afraid there are way too many men like him in that same position. Some women too, but many more men. I wish there were a better way to police the citizenry than what we have.

110% agree with all of this. IMO his mind was made up before he entered the house. Maybe (probably) made up weeks, months, even years before. Awful

 

[spyblond]

Perhaps he felt that she was challenging his authority and his guard went up by whatever it was that she said to him, as she went to move the boiling water. JMOO
Disclaimer: I am not defending his actions or making excuses for why he shot her. She did not deserve to die that day. Thank you.

I understand that you think you're not "defending" him or making excuses but that's exactly what you are doing. I don't think we really need to come up with hypotheticals as to why he acted the way he did. What matters is that he murdered someone and we should all be able to side with the VICTIM here.

 

[fsngruv]

I understand that you think you're not "defending" him or making excuses but that's exactly what you are doing. I don't think we really need to come up with hypotheticals as to why he acted the way he did. What matters is that he murdered someone and we should all be able to side with the VICTIM here.

I can't help but completely agree. Is this same consideration given to the perpatrator who rapes or kills a child? No. No one comes to the perps side to say, maybe they were attracted to the child? Maybe the child was coming on to them? We don't do that because it would be abhorrent if anyone did. Just as it is in this case.

 

[MollyDDD]

It won’t be Sean Grayson’s job anymore. Thankfully.

jmo

That’s true, many lose their jobs or quit. I hear the pay’s not that great anyway.

 

[georgiajean]

I understand that you think you're not "defending" him or making excuses but that's exactly what you are doing. I don't think we really need to come up with hypotheticals as to why he acted the way he did. What matters is that he murdered someone and we should all be able to side with the VICTIM here.

I believe it is important to try to decipher what happened in his sick mind, so that departments can better assess officers. So the warning signs are clear, and such hot-head reactionary individuals are not allowed to jump through so many departments and jobs. These individuals should NOT be allowed to keep working. Let this case be the one that puts some hard lines that stop such individuals from being in positions of authority with weapons.

Do officers report each other, or not? In other professions, like nursing, people report dangerous behavior. It is expected, for patient care and safety. Why not law enforcement?

 

[georgiajean]

Imagine that being your job every day?

Especially without supports to process and deal with the tension, with the normal human response to being threatened, verbally abused, etc. yes, it is part of the job and you know that going in, but the reality of it, and how it eats away at you, coupled with how men, especially, in this country, are taught to not have feelings.... It's a powder keg.

 

[steeltowngirl]

Especially without supports to process and deal with the tension, with the normal human response to being threatened, verbally abused, etc. yes, it is part of the job and you know that going in, but the reality of it, and how it eats away at you, coupled with how men, especially, in this country, are taught to not have feelings.... It's a powder keg.

This is true, and I respect the men in blue who grapple with the stress of an extremely dangerous job on a daily basis with low pay and negative press. It is a job that requires a unique set of qualities, which must be difficult to fully assess prior to the officers actually working the job.

The issue I have in this case were the number of red flags with SG. As you note, it’s a powder keg of a job, and he appears to have had a short fuse. Cannot understand how he was still working the streets instead of a desk job, if he were retained at all.

jmo

 

[Mack the Knife]

Sonya Massey killing: family accuse police of attempted cover-up Guardian article via Yahoo, so no paywall. Emphasis mine.

Police audio obtained by the Guardian features someone on scene the night of Massey’s killing – presumably a deputy – saying Massey’s wound was “self-inflicted”. A dispatcher asks to confirm, and the person on scene repeats “self-inflicted”. The recording is in line with what the family says was misleading information given by police when Massey was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

“They tried to make me believe that a neighbor had did it,” said Jimmie Crawford Jr, Massey’s former partner and the father of one of her children, who added that law enforcement told nurses at the hospital that Massey had “killed herself”. “How do you get that confused?” said Crawford Jr.

Only after a doctor said Massey’s death was a homicide did law enforcement begin classifying it as a police killing, the family said. Some of Massey’s family did not learn who had actually killed her until they read news reports about the 6 July killing, her father, James Wilburn, said on Tuesday

At some point in the aftermath of the shooting, police audio reveals someone saying Massey killed herself.

“Just confirmed: self-inflicted?” a dispatcher asks.

“Self-inflicted,” someone replies.

Unless this happened after backup already arrived, and some other deputy called it in (in which case they shouldn't have done so if they didn't know the details)...there were only two people on scene who would be calling in to police dispatch--the two deputies--and they both knew well that Deputy Grayson shot and killed Sonya Massey.

 

[PrairieWind]

I understand that you think you're not "defending" him or making excuses but that's exactly what you are doing. I don't think we really need to come up with hypotheticals as to why he acted the way he did. What matters is that he murdered someone and we should all be able to side with the VICTIM here.

I would disagree. I don't think this is defending him at all. It is important to try to understand what the thought process was of this man that led him to change a routine police encounter into murder in a matter of seconds. This act was horrific and so unjustified and I feel sick for Ms. Massey and her family. There is no excuse for what happened, but there is a reason. I'd like to know what it is, so that we can try to avoid these tragedies in the future.

 

[tlcya]

I understand those focused on understanding his motivations, not as justifications, but for future training purposes, as "What not to do's".

Unfortunately, in the case of Sean Grayson, it is my very strong opinion that he should never have been hired in the first place, so addressing how he came to be a Sangamon County Deputy and "what not to do" in regards to hiring practices moving forward is much more important to me and my community.

 

[Marantz4250b]

The speed of the escalation is what stuns me. There is a fairly routine encounter, she calls, they respond, look around, talk to her on the porch, very calm and normal and he says something about "is there anything else we can do for you." implying they are about to leave, she responds a bit odd and he says something about, "are you doing ok, you know mentally" or something to that effect. He seems to detect that she might not be totally ok. They go in, he is getting some identification, again all calm and pleasant, she goes to move the water and he just completely changes, pulls the gun and warns her he will shoot her in the face. I don't get it. If he really felt threatened, just back off and out the front door.

It's completely and utterly bizarre. There was absolutely no reason for his change of behavior (although he was already more hyped than he should have been imo) in response to something as innocuous as what she said. He just seems to be completely unhinged and dangerous.

 

[iamshadow21]

It's completely and utterly bizarre. There was absolutely no reason for his change of behavior (although he was already more hyped than he should have been imo) in response to something as innocuous as what she said. He just seems to be completely unhinged and dangerous.

I honestly wonder if they've tested him for drugs recently.

MOO