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

[georgiajean]

<modsnip - personalizing> 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]

<modsnip - personalizing> 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.

<modsnip - quoted post was snipped> 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

 

[Mama-dukes]

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

jmo

Agreed

 

[Mama-dukes]

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

MOO

Agreed with this he was so quick 2 just so this that he wasn’t thinking at all if that makes sense

 

[tlcya]

Wow, never heard of that. Any idea how that could possibly work? The only way I can come up with would be by MAGIC, but I assume there's another explanation!

I am not a super tech savvy person but my understanding is that the camera is always at the ready and filming but in a sort of buffering mode, after 30 seconds the camera automatically deletes that past 30 seconds and is recording the next 30, and so forth, until the camera is intentionally activated by the LEO and then it contains that most recent 30 seconds prior to the activation along with everything the officer meant to record by activating it.

Once the camera has been activated, that previous 30 seconds and the footage after is automatically uploading to a server somewhere and being maintained for at least 90 days. This ensures the LEO is not able to view a playback of their own footage nor are they able to alter or delete it.

 

[Marantz4250b]

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

MOO

Yeah, I wonder.

I'm no expert but I suspect that this is this the type of thing thing you see with huge steroid use, perhaps?

 

[Artis]

<modsnip - quoted post was snipped> 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.

but there is a reason

His psychological profile. <modsnip - opinion stated as fact> All LE should go through extensive psychological testing prior to hiring. MMPI, the Hare psychopath test and whatever else is available to weed out these psychos. I have watched so many videos of this crap, for so many years, and it is not improving. I can think of several similar murders by cop, just off the top of my head, because it happens that often.

 

[Becky Starkey]

Yeah, I wonder.

I'm no expert but I suspect that this is this the type of thing thing you see with huge steroid use, perhaps?

Looking at his mug, I'd bet yes.

 

[Becky Starkey]

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




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.

If all of this is true, it's beyond horrific. They all knew who shot her, and it wasn't an intruder.

 

[Marantz4250b]

<modsnip - quoted post was removed>
I'm not so sure here. I'll watch the videos again but I don't specifically recall any of the cops mentioning at any point that it was self inflicted.

The bodycam footage wouldn't have made a difference. There is no way he'd be getting away with this if the cam footage didn't exist. The evidence would clearly show that this wasn't self inflicted. For starters there were three shots!

We can't say the he would not have done this if the personal attributes of the victim were different. What I see right from the start is an, impatient, overly aggressive, easily offended narcissistic psychopath who clearly didn't care about the consequences of his actions. I'm willing to bet that he regularly draws his gun and is well known for threatening people with it. Sonya Massey merely met him mat the wrong time and said the wrong thing to him.

You are right that a whole lot more people are getting their arses dragged into this and rightly so. The people who hired him should be sharing the cell with him, in my very humble opinion. No way they didn't know what he was like.

 

[sds71]

“We don’t actually know what happened; he just screamed shots fired. Somebody heard — one of the dispatchers heard the gunshots and said female shot in the head, but we don’t know if she shot herself or if a deputy shot her,” the county dispatcher said.

She takes a pause, and then adds more information.

“They’re now saying self-inflicted,” she added.

https://www.wcia.com/top-stories/newly-released-dispatch-records-detail-confusion-following-shooting-of-sonya-massey/

 

[tlcya]

<modsnip - quoted post was removed - the following refers to the other, non-shooting office> The one Grayson called a "dipsh*t" when he figured out he wasn't going to back up his BS story about being afraid of hot water.

I am thankful he was guided to have his body cam on as required, attempt to render aid, and his refusal to back up Grayson in his garbage claims.

 

[georgiajean]

from your link:
<modsnip>

I am thankful he was guided to have his body cam on as required, attempt to render aid, and his refusal to back up Grayson in his garbage claims.

<modsnip - quoted post was snipped>

For the part I bolded above, is this your opinion about the water? In the video, I clearly heard the shooting cop explain to a supervisor LE that he shot her and showing where the water came. I didn't hear the other cop deny this or say anything (he was trying to help stop the blood and talking to EMT).

 

[georgiajean]

“We don’t actually know what happened; he just screamed shots fired. Somebody heard — one of the dispatchers heard the gunshots and said female shot in the head, but we don’t know if she shot herself or if a deputy shot her,” the county dispatcher said.

She takes a pause, and then adds more information.

“They’re now saying self-inflicted,” she added.

https://www.wcia.com/top-stories/newly-released-dispatch-records-detail-confusion-following-shooting-of-sonya-massey/

Thank you for posting this. It is easy to see the confusion on the scanner traffic with garbled or cut off comments and multiple people responding back and forth asking for clarification. But there was ZERO confusion on the ground. Everyone knew who the shooter was. I do not see how this could have been covered up, but now I wonder how many things were covered up before body cameras came to be...

Does anyone know of other cases where officer shootings were not reported until much later?