Illinois

Sonya Massey murder: Records show Illinois deputy worked for 6 agencies in 4 years

Published

2 years ago

July 24, 2024

Sonya Massey murder: Records show Illinois deputy worked for 6 agencies in 4 years

Sonya Massey murder: Body-cam footage released in fatal police shooting

Reaction poured in Monday night after video was released of a police officer fatally shooting Sonya Massey inside her Illinois home.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The former sheriff’s deputy charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman killed inside her Illinois home, had been employed by a half-dozen police agencies since 2020, according to state law enforcement records.

Sean Grayson’s career included short stints as a part-time officer at three small police departments and a full-time job at a fourth department as well as working full time at two sheriff’s offices, all in central Illinois.

Grayson, 30, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct charges in the July 6 killing. He was fired last week by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities said Massey had called 911 to report a suspected prowler. Two deputies eventually showed up at her house in Springfield, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.

Sheriff’s body camera video released Monday confirmed prosecutors’ earlier account of the tense moment when Grayson yelled across a counter at Massey to set down a pot of hot water. He then threatened to shoot the unarmed woman, Massey ducked and briefly rose, and Grayson fired his pistol at her. Massey was hit three times, with a fatal shot to her head.

Sonya Massey and Sean Grayson | Provided

At a news conference Tuesday in Springfield, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Massey’s family, asserted that the Justice Department had opened an investigation into the incident, “which is welcome, because there have been some concerns and revelations by the family that we think need to be investigated.” He said he did not know the scope of the probe.

But in a statement, the Department of Justice said it “is aware of and assessing the circumstances surrounding the tragic officer-involved death” and said it “will continue to track the criminal case.”

James Wilburn, Massey’s father, called for Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell to resign.

“I want to tell y’all the sheriff here is an embarrassment,” Wilburn said. “This man (Grayson) should have never had a badge. And he should have never had a gun. He should have never been given the opportunity to kill my child.”

A telephone message was left with Campbell’s office.

We are angry: Family of Illinois woman killed by deputy speaks out

The family of Sonya Massey spoke out Monday after bodycam video was released of her shooting death.

The Associated Press is seeking Grayson’s employment history from the six agencies.

The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board shows Grayson was hired part time on Aug. 11, 2020, by the Pawnee Police Department. He also was hired part time on Feb. 4, 2021, by the Kincaid Police Department and on May 20, 2021, by the Virden Police Department.

Two months later, he was hired full time by the Auburn Police Department and remained there until May 1, 2022, when he was hired full time by the Logan County Sheriff’s Office. Grayson left Logan County on April 28, 2023, and was hired full time on May 1, 2023, by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.

He received his part-time Law Enforcement Certification on June 5, 2021, according to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. His certification status currently reads as suspended on the board’s website.

Grayson’s attorney, Daniel Fultz, declined comment.

Wilburn and Sonya Massey’s mother, Donna Massey, met with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton at a Baptist church Tuesday morning.

“They understood that oftentimes the Sonya Masseys of the world don’t get due process of the law. And that they were committed to saying this would be a fair and transparent investigation and process at every level,” Crump said.

The family wants Congress to approve the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, both of which U.S. House Democrats approved in 2021 before the legislation died in the Senate. The first aims to crack down on police misconduct, excessive force and racial bias in law enforcement, while the voting rights act would require local jurisdictions to seek federal approval before changing voting laws.

“Every member of Congress needs to vote today so that nobody else in this United States of America has to go through what we’re going through,” Wilburn said.

Sonya Massey murder: Illinois police bodycam video shows fatal shooting

The Illinois State Police released video on Monday of police entering the home of a woman who called 911 for help and the violent scene that ensued when a sheriffs deputy shot her in the face.

In a statement released Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris said she is joining President Joe Biden in calling on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

“Sonya Massey deserved to be safe,” Harris said. “After she called the police for help, she was tragically killed in her own home at the hands of a responding officer sworn to protect and serve. The disturbing footage released yesterday confirms what we know from the lived experiences of so many — we have much work to do to ensure that our justice system fully lives up to its name.”

Massey’s oldest child, 17-year-old Malachi Hill Massey, said he watched the beginning the body camera video of the shooting of his mother but didn’t finish it.

“I don’t have no words for this,” Malachi Massey said.

Grayson was being held without bond in the Sangamon County Jail. If convicted, he faces prison sentences of 45 years to life for murder, six to 30 years for battery and two to five years for misconduct.

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Illinois

The Final Four is set with UConn stunning Duke to join Illinois, Arizona and Michigan

Published

4 hours ago

March 29, 2026

Press Room

The Final Four is set with UConn stunning Duke to join Illinois, Arizona and Michigan

UConn guard Braylon Mullins, right, celebrates his game winning basket with guard Malachi Smith (0) during the second half in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Duke, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Washington.

Stephanie Scarbrough/AP

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Stephanie Scarbrough/AP

All that talent at Arizona and Michigan. All that momentum and good vibes at UConn. And somebody has to be play the part of the unheralded “little guy.” At the Final Four next weekend, that role belongs, improbably, to Illinois.

In a sign of the times, the Illinii — a Big Ten team with more wins in the conference over the last seven seasons than any other program — will pass for something resembling Cinderella when college basketball’s biggest party kicks off in Indianapolis on Saturday.

The first challenge for coach Brad Underwood’s team will be stopping a hard-charging UConn juggernaut that came from 19 points down and got a game-winner from the logo with 0.4 seconds left from an Indy native — Braylon Mullins — to make its third Final Four in the last four years.

The last two times the Huskies reached this point, they won the championship.

“It’s a UConn culture, a UConn heart,” coach Dan Hurley said. “We believe we’re supposed to win this time of year.”

All these teams do.

Arizona, led by Brayden Burries, and Michigan, with Yaxel Lendeborg, have up to nine NBA prospects between them.

The Wildcats opened as slight favorites — at plus-165 to win the championship, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. That was a shade ahead of the Wolverines, who are plus-180 after their 95-62 romp over Tennessee on Sunday.

But, in one of a few strange twists on the odds chart, the Wildcats are 1 1/2-point underdogs to Michigan in Saturday night’s second semifinal.

Illinois is a 2 1/2-point favorite over UConn and, in reality, it’s the Huskies, at plus-550, who are the biggest long shot in Indy.

Even so, the fact that Illinois — the flagship university in the nation’s sixth most populous state and a school with an enrollment of nearly 60,000 — feels most like this year’s out-of-nowhere underdog speaks more about the current state of college hoops than the Illini themselves.

They are a No. 3 seed — the highest number at the Final Four in two years. (UConn is a 2. Last season, all four No. 1s made it.)

This year’s meeting of 1 vs. 1 — Michigan vs. Arizona — is a heavyweight matchup of power teams from power conferences meeting with everything at stake.

It’s a far cry from a mere three years ago, when mid-majors Florida Atlantic (coached by Dusty May, who now leads the Wolverines) and San Diego State crashed college basketball’s biggest party.

Since then, NIL and the transfer portal have redefined the contours of player movement, another spasm of realignment has made the big conferences bigger (Arizona, now in the Big 12, was in the Pac-12 in 2023), and the high-achieving underdogs that used to make March Madness what it is have gone into a slump.

Double-digit seeds won a total of five games in this tournament (not counting the play-in round). Two years ago, they won 11 and sent one team (N.C. State) to the Final Four.

Not surprisingly, Underwood — the coach who landed on the Illinois radar a decade ago by coaching double-digit seed Stephen F. Austin to a pair of upset wins in the tournament — views his program’s trip to the Final Four more as destiny than a once-in-a-lifetime story.

It is, however, the first trip for Illinois since 2005, when it lost to North Carolina in the title game.

Illinois coach Brad Underwood celebrates after Illinois beat Iowa in an Elite Eight game in the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Houston.

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“I don’t want to sound arrogant,” said Underwood, whose teams have won 96 Big Ten games since 2019-20, two more than Purdue. “I’ve never doubted us getting to a Final Four would happen. I have thought we have had other teams capable. But I also know how doggone hard it is to do it.”

The Big Ten knows all about this. Both Illinois and Michigan have a chance to deliver a title for the conference for the first time since Michigan State won it all in 2000.

Illinois vs. UConn

The Illini, led by the so-called “Balkan Bloc” — a cohort of players with roots in Eastern Europe — have a potential NBA lottery pick of their own in guard Keaton Wagler.

Even so, the best-known name on the Illini roster might be Andrej Stojakovic, whose father, Peja, was a three-time NBA All-Star. Illinois is the third school in three years for the younger Stojakovic, who spent one season at Stanford and another at Cal before joining Underwood’s crew.

The task for Illinois: Figuring out who to key on across a roster that has five players who average double figures, led by Tarris Reed Jr.

Michigan vs. Arizona

Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg (23) celebrates after defeating Tennessee in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Chicago.

Erin Hooley/AP

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The Wildcats-Wolverines game is a high-powered matchup of programs that have shown there’s more than one way to amass talent in the era of the unlimited transfer portal and big-money name, image and likeness deals.

Four of the five starters for Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats began their careers in Tucson; the fifth, Big 12 player of the year Jaden Bradley, moved over from Alabama and has been with the Wildcats for three years.

This illustration shows twin sisters Marija and Marta Galic in their basketball uniforms, with their backs to the viewer. They are linking arms.

Meanwhile, the top four players in minutes played at Michigan — Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr., Aday Mara and Elliot Cadeau — all arrived from the transfer portal.

In a twist that makes perfect sense these days, both coaches parlayed roots in the mid-majors to a spot on the sport’s biggest stage. Lloyd spent decades as a top assistant for Mark Few at Gonzaga before heading to Arizona to rebuild the program after the ouster of Sean Miller in 2021.

May led FAU to the Final Four before heading to the Michigan program that had thrived, then collapsed, under former Fab Five star Juwan Howard.

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Illinois

Decorated Illinois guard Josh Gesky met with Saints ahead of draft

Published

17 hours ago

March 29, 2026

Press Room

Decorated Illinois guard Josh Gesky met with Saints ahead of draft

Once again, the NFL pre-draft circuit is in full effect, as teams spread out their staff all over the country to try and ensure they view as many pro days as physically possible. With some of the most substantial schools being next up on the schedule, it is going to draw national attention from the media, especially with results from the top prospects and potentially some passing drills from the quarterbacks.

Among the plentiful news coming out of these events is some intriguing meetings from the New Orleans Saints, with one of the most recent being Illinois guard Josh Gesky, who they met with at the school.

Gesky had an extremely impressive 2025 season when it comes to the metrics, allowing only 1 sack and 12 pressures, while only having 1 penalty tied to his name. While his run blocking left a bit to be desired, he has shown promise there in previous years, and it is something he has been solid at in various years.

At 6-foot-5 and 335 pounds, he has great size and has quite a few distinctions during his time at Illinois. He was listed as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar in 2023, an Academic All-Big Ten from 2022 to 2025, and was an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention from 2023 to 2025. These types of things certainly factor into potential draft selections, and with the Saints needing another guard, Gesky could be an option for them in 2026.

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Illinois

How to buy Illinois Final Four gear, hats, shirts, hoodies, more

Published

1 day ago

March 28, 2026

Press Room

How to buy Illinois Final Four gear, hats, shirts, hoodies, more

No. 3 Illinois knocked off No. 9 Iowa on Saturday night in Houston, now they’re advancing to the Final Four in the men’s NCAA Tournament.

The Fighting Illini pulled away late and ended their the Hawkeye’s Cinderella run in the Elite Eight with a 71-59 victory.

SHOP: Illinois Final Four tickets

Illinois fans know this is special, it’s the team’s first Final Four appearance since 2005, so now it’s time to celebrate.

Get the gear the players wore on the court, including Illinois Final Four hats, Illinois Final Four shirts, and more.

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Illinois Final Four game location

Illinois will play its Final Four game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Get your Illinois Final Four NCAA Tournament tickets now.

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Illinois Final Four appearances

The last time the Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team made the Final Four was in 2005. They also made it in 1989, 1952, 1951 and 1949.

When is the Final Four?

The 2026 NCAA Tournament concludes with the Final Four on Saturday, April 4 and the National Championship game on Monday, April 6. Saturday’s games are scheduled for 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET respectively, while the National Championship game is set to tip at 8:30 p.m. ET on Monday, April 6.