Midwest
Bodycam video reveals chaotic scene of deputy fatally shooting Sonya Massey, who called 911 for help
Sonya Massey ducked and apologized to an Illinois sheriff’s deputy seconds before he shot the Black woman three times in her home, with one fatal blow to the head, as seen in body camera video released Monday.
An Illinois grand jury indicted former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, 30, who is white, last week. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct.
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The video confirmed prosecutors’ earlier account of the tense moment when Grayson yelled from across a counter at Massey to set down a pot of hot water. He then threatened to shoot her, Massey ducked, briefly rose, and Grayson fired his pistol at her.
Authorities said Massey, 36, had called 911 earlier to report a suspected prowler. The video shows the two deputies responded just before 1 a.m. on July 6 at her home in Springfield, 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. They first walked around the house and found a black SUV with broken windows in the driveway.
It took Massey three minutes to open the door after the deputies knocked, and she immediately said, “Don’t hurt me.”
She seemed confused as they spoke at the door, and she repeated that she needed help, referenced God and told them she didn’t know who owned the car.
Inside the house, deputies seemed exasperated as she sat on her couch and went through her purse as they asked for identification to complete a report before leaving. Then Grayson pointed out a pot sitting on a flame on the stove.
“We don’t need a fire while we’re here,” he said.
In this image taken from body camera video released by Illinois State Police on Monday, July 22, 2024, former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, left, points his gun at Sonya Massey, who called 911 for help, before shooting and killing her inside her home in Springfield, Ill., July 6, 2024. (Illinois State Police via AP)
Massey immediately got up and went to the stove, moving the pot near a sink. She and Grayson seemed to share a laugh over her pan of “steaming hot water” before she unexpectedly said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
“You better (expletive) not or I swear to God I’ll (expletive) shoot you in your (expletive) face.” He then pulled his 9mm pistol and demanded she drop the pot.
Massey said, “OK, I’m sorry.” In Grayson’s body camera footage, he pointed his weapon at her. She ducked and raised her hands.
Grayson was still in the living room, facing Massey and separated by a counter dividing the living room and kitchen. Prosecutors have said the separation allowed Grayson both “distance and relative cover” from Massey and the pot of hot water.
After Grayson shot her, Grayson discouraged his partner from grabbing a medical kit to save her.
“You can go get it, but that’s a headshot,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do, man.”
He added: “What else do we do? I’m not taking hot (expletive) boiling water to the (expletive) face”
Noting that Massey was still breathing, he relented and said he would get his kit, too. The other deputy said, “We can at least try to stop the bleeding.”
Grayson told responding police, “She had boiling water and came at me, with boiling water. She said she was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus and came at me with boiling water.”
During a Monday afternoon news conference, the family’s lawyer, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, called Grayson’s “revisionist” justification “disingenuous.”
“She needed a helping hand. She did not need a bullet to her face,” Crump said of Massey.
Asked why Massey told Grayson, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” Crump said she had undergone treatment for mental health issues. He noted that she invoked God’s name from the beginning of the encounter and asked for her Bible after the deputies stepped inside.
During Massey’s funeral on Friday, Crump said the video, which he and the family had already viewed, would “shock the conscience of America.”
Massey’s father, James Wilburn, demanded the county court system be completely open with its investigation and prosecution and transparent with the public.
“The only time I will see my baby again is when I leave this world,” Wilburn said. “And I don’t ever want anybody else in the United States to join this league.”
Grayson, who was fired last week, is being held in the Sangamon County Jail without bond. If convicted, he faces prison sentences of 45 years to life for murder, 6 to 30 years for battery and 2 to 5 years for misconduct.
His lawyer, Daniel Fultz, declined to comment Monday.
In a statement, President Joe Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden were praying for Massey’s family “as they face this unthinkable and senseless loss.”
“When we call for help, all of us as Americans – regardless of who we are or where we live – should be able to do so without fearing for our lives,” Biden said. “Sonya’s death at the hands of a responding officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not.”
Massey’s death is the latest example of Black people killed in recent years by police in their homes.
In May, a Hispanic Florida sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Roger Fortson, when the Air Force senior airman opened the door of his home in Fort Walton Beach armed with a handgun pointed down. The deputy, Eddie Duran, was fired.
In 2019, a white Fort Worth, Texas, officer fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson through a rear window of her home after responding to a nonemergency call reporting that Jefferson’s front door was open. Aaron Dean, the former officer, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison.
In 2018, a white Dallas police officer fatally shot Botham Jean, who was unarmed, after mistaking his apartment for her own. Amber Guyger, the former officer, was convicted of murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Crump has represented families in each case as part of his effort to force accountability for the killings of Black people at the hands of police. Crump also has represented relatives of Earl Moore, a Springfield man who died after he was strapped face down on a stretcher in December 2022. Two emergency medical professionals face murder charges in that case.
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Midwest
Wild video shows federal agents detaining 2 men at Minnesota gas station as agitators gather
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Dramatic videos show federal Border Patrol agents taking two men into custody at a gas station in St. Paul, Minnesota, as agitators continue to taunt and disrupt authorities in the area.
The videos, posted to X on Sunday afternoon, quickly drew thousands of views and appear to show Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino ordering a crowd to move back as federal agents attempted to remove a man from a vehicle parked at the gas station.
Multiple federal agents surrounded the parked vehicle as authorities repeatedly instructed bystanders to step back.
“Back up, guys, back up,” Bovino says in the video. “We’re going to back you on up for our safety and your safety… Stay there.”
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The videos appear to show Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino ordering a crowd to move back as federal agents work to remove a man from a vehicle parked at the gas station. (FNTV)
Moments later, agents force a man wearing a brown jacket to the ground and place him in handcuffs as agitators shout and car horns blare in the background.
Three agents are then seen carrying the man away from the scene by his arms and one of his legs.
In another tense moment captured on video, a Border Patrol agent again orders bystanders to move back.
After a man appears to resist, the situation escalates as several agents tackle him and place him in handcuffs.
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Agents appear to force a man wearing a brown jacket to the ground and place him in handcuffs as agitators shout and car horns blare in the background. (FNTV)
He is then carried away by his arms and legs.
The confrontation comes amid heightened tensions in the Twin Cities following a fatal shooting Wednesday during a federal immigration enforcement operation, when 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent.
Federal officials said Good attempted to drive her vehicle toward agents during the encounter, a claim disputed by family members and some local leaders.
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Videos appear to show federal Border Patrol agents taking two men into custody at a gas station in St. Paul, Minnesota. (FNTV)
The shooting led to agitators taking to the streets and heightened scrutiny of federal enforcement activity in the city, contributing to repeated confrontations between demonstrators and federal agents.
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A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security and for U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
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Detroit, MI
Thompson: The new year brings a promising future for Detroit students
Detroit Public Schools Community District often gets a bad rap due to declining enrollment issues or longstanding challenges that led to the historic takeover of the school system before voters returned it to an elected board.
And in many cases, that is the lens through which the school system’s performance is examined and viewed across the state. But there are hidden stories of progress within a school system that is still struggling to define itself and to give young Detroiters hope for a meaningful future.
I saw that first-hand last week at Denby High School, part of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, on the city’s east side, where hundreds of young Black and Brown male students gathered in the basketball gym for the annual policing and prosperity forum.
The annual event initiated and led by tenacious Detroiter Sharlonda Buckman, the district’s assistant superintendent for family and community engagement, is one of the hidden jewels of the public school system and brings together male students from various high schools to discuss their interaction with law enforcement. On the panel were senior and junior police officers from the Detroit Police Department, as well as the district’s public safety chief, Labrit Jackson, all of whom took hard questions from the students about how to navigate the complexities of the criminal justice system.
Before the start of the forum, I met three students: 17-year-old Justin Montgomery, 17-year-old Exavier Ward and 16-year-old Wesley Lewis, all students of Denby.
The three of them live on the east side and are serious and determined students who believe they have an obligation to be worthy ambassadors of their communities.
“I just got a scholarship from Cleary University for track and field and cross country and I just signed the papers so I can be committed,” Ward told me. “I am excited for the new year and I’m ready to live my adult life.”
His parents are also joyful about his future because, “out of all of my siblings, I’m going to be the first one to go to college. I want to major in cybersecurity,” he says.
Montgomery is scouting Oakland University or Central Michigan University and is also interested in a trades school. He’s keeping his options open.
“I have been here for a while and I’m ready to get out of high school. The experience has been good for me,” he says.
For Lewis, graduating in 2027 will make him the first in his family to be committed to college. That alone keeps him upbeat for the new year as he prepares for the challenges and the pressures of being an 11th grade student.
“I’m really ready to go to college. I’m looking at Kentucky State University, Wayne State University and Michigan State University,” he says. “I probably would major in music in college because I currently play the piano. But sometimes I get nervous about college because I feel like it is going to be harder than high school.”
These impressive young men speak to the vitality of the school system and the need to continue to nurture and support them.
The forum on policing and prosperity reinforces that need.
“This forum is so important because we give the students an opportunity to have a voice and talk about the things that are important to them and how they interact with law enforcement,” says Marty Bulger, the district’s senior director of male mentoring.
“Even a more dynamic piece is the fact that because the city has seen a reduction in violent crime, we believe as we reach our young people, we will continue to see a decline. These young men are our future leaders.”
X (formerly Twitter): @BankoleDetNews
bankole@bankolethompson.com
Bankole Thompson’s columns appear on Mondays and Thursdays in The Detroit News.
Milwaukee, WI
Pregnant Milwaukee woman killed; suspect appears in court on arson charges
MILWAUKEE – New details are emerging in the death of a pregnant woman found dead after a house fire investigators say was intentionally set, as the man charged in the case appeared in court.
What we know:
21-year-old Cameron Washington appeared Sunday, Jan. 11, at the Milwaukee County Courthouse, where prosecutors outlined allegations tying him to the death of 22-year-old Gladys Johnson-Ball.
Washington faces six felony charges, including first-degree recklessly endangering safety and arson, all connected to the fire that broke out the night of Jan. 5.
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According to the criminal complaint, Johnson-Ball was the mother of Washington’s 3-year-old daughter and was pregnant with another child at the time of her death. Investigators say Washington lived with Johnson-Ball and her family at a home near 26th and Locust.
Police were called to the home for reports of a person with a weapon. When officers arrived, they reported seeing flames on the second floor of the house. While clearing the home, officers found Johnson-Ball unconscious in a bedroom that was on fire.
She was taken outside and pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators noted Johnson-Ball had bruises across her body and blood coming from her nose and mouth, according to the complaint.
The complaint says Johnson-Ball’s mother told police Washington and her daughter had been inside the bedroom together all day and that family members had been unable to reach her. She told investigators Washington would not allow anyone inside the room and pointed a gun at family members.
What they’re saying:
“He was blocking the door like, ‘No you not getting in here,’ then I turned around and that’s when he pointed the gun at my daughter Kayla,” said Michelle Johnson, the victim’s mother.
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Family members told investigators the fire started moments later in the bedroom and Washington ran away from the house. He was later arrested, and police say a lighter was found in his pocket.
“Ultimately, this is extremely dangerous and deliberate behavior,” said Assistant District Attorney Anthony Moore.
Dig deeper:
In court, Washington’s bond was set at $100,000. Prosecutors said he could face more than 50 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Court Commissioner Maria Dorsey noted Washington has not yet been charged with homicide because the medical examiner’s report was not completed when charges were filed.
What’s next:
Washington’s next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 20.
The Source: Information in this report is from the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office and Wisconsin Circuit Court.
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