Former sheriff's deputy charged with murder thought Massey 'was going to kill me'
A former Sangamon County Sheriff's deputy charged with murder said he thought Sonya Massey was going throw boiling liquid on him and his partner on July 6 when they responded to Massey's home for a possible prowler.
In his report, released by Sangamon County on Monday, Sean P. Grayson admitted that when Massey twice said, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus," that "I interpreted this to mean she was going to kill me."
The release includes 30 pages of reports from other sheriff's deputies who responded to the shooting.
Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, lived in the 2800 block of Hoover Avenue in an unincorporated area of Woodside Township.
Grayson shot Massey in the face after demanding she drop the pot of liquid.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges in Sangamon County Court on July 18. He remains in custody.
The report was written on July 9, three days after the shooting.
Grayson had requested and was given permission to review bodycam footage of the call.
In the report, Grayson admitted he was in "imminent fear of getting boiling liquid to my face or chest, which would have caused great bodily harm or death." He didn't know "the type of liquid" Massey was boiling.
Grayson indicated he gave Massey "loud, clear verbal commands" to drop the pot.
After Massey ducked down behind a cabinet, Grayson said he came closer to make sure she "did not grab any other weapon."
Grayson insisted Massey "threw the boiling substance at me."
"I fired my duty weapon in Sonya's direction," the report further read. "I observed Sonya fall to the ground behind the counter."
In another report, Deputy Jason Eccleston described Grayson as "visibly shaken up" and tried to support him at the scene.
At his patrol car, Eccleston advised Grayson "to not speak about what happened."
Grayson admitted in his report that he thought he had activated his body-worn camera at the beginning of the call, then realized later he hadn't and told his supervisor at the scene.
After getting cleared medically at Springfield Memorial Hospital, Grayson was interviewed by an Illinois State Police investigator at the sheriff's office.
In a report made out by Sgt. James Hayes, a witness whose name is redacted told him that Massey had been in a medical facility out of town prior to the shooting. The witness described to Hayes how Massey was in her yard "yelling. At one point, Massey threw a brick through one of the windows of her own vehicle."
On July 5, Massey told a sheriff's deputy in an interview at St. John's Hospital that she broke the window of vehicle on the back driver's side "in an attempt to get into the car to get away (from a neighbor). She was unable to get in through the back, so she ripped out the driver side window in order to gain entry into the vehicle" resulting in some minor scrapes.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.