The family of Sonya Massey, a black woman killed by authorities who responded to her 911 call, believes officers attempted to cover up her shooting, initially saying her gunshot wound was self-inflicted.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Tuesday that the Department of Justice will open an investigation into this month’s fatal shooting of Sonya Massey and how deputies from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office handled the aftermath, a development he welcomes.
“This whole thing about they seem to not have been told the truth from the very beginning,” Crump said at a news conference with some of Massey’s survivors.
Massey, 36, was killed in the early morning hours of July 6 after she’d called 911 to report a suspected prowler. In body-cam footage showing her final moments, Massey ducked and apologized to Deputy Sean Grayson seconds before he shot the Black woman three times in her home, with one fatal blow to the head.
Massey’s father, James Wilburn, told “CBS Mornings” the family was initially not told that their loved one’s shooting death involved law enforcement.
“We were under the impression that she was killed by the intruder, or some other person from the street, and they just went in there and found her dead body,” Wilburn said, adding that rumors began to circulate that Massey’s killing was self-inflicted.
Although difficult to watch, Wilburn said he is thankful for the bodycam video that ensured transparency in his daughter’s death.
“It’s probably the most horrible, heart-wrenching thing that we’ve ever seen in our lives, but if it were not for the bodycam footage, we would not have known that this occurred.”
According to Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser, Grayson did not activate his bodycam until after he fired shots at Massey. The video released came from a second deputy who was with Grayson.
A grand jury indicted Grayson on July 17. He was fired from his job and is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct.