Sonya Massey killing: family accuse police of attempted cover-up | Illinois

The household of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black lady who was shot within the face and killed by a white sheriff’s deputy in Illinois, have mentioned police initially tried to cowl up her killing.

Police audio obtained by the Guardian options somebody on scene the night time of Massey’s killing – presumably a deputy – saying Massey’s wound was “self-inflicted”. A dispatcher asks to verify, and the particular person on scene repeats “self-inflicted”. The recording is in step with what the household says was deceptive info given by police when Massey was taken to a hospital, the place she was pronounced lifeless.

At a press convention on Tuesday, the household mentioned police initially advised Massey’s family members she had both killed herself or was killed by an intruder.

“They tried to make me consider {that a} neighbor had did it,” mentioned Jimmie Crawford Jr, Massey’s former accomplice and the daddy of one in all her kids, who added that legislation enforcement advised nurses on the hospital that Massey had “killed herself”. “How do you get that confused?” mentioned Crawford Jr.

Solely after a health care provider mentioned Massey’s demise was a murder did legislation enforcement start classifying it as a police killing, the household mentioned. A few of Massey’s household didn’t be taught who had truly killed her till they learn information experiences in regards to the 6 July killing, her father, James Wilburn, mentioned on Tuesday.

The civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who’s representing Massey’s household, mentioned the US Division of Justice had launched an investigation. Responding to the Guardian’s request for remark, the DoJ mentioned that it “is conscious of and assessing the circumstances surrounding the tragic officer-involved demise of Ms Sonya Massey and extends condolences to her household and family members. The division will proceed to trace the felony case opened by the Sangamon county state’s lawyer.”

The Sangamon county sheriff’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

“What we don’t wish to occur is a Laquan McDonald scenario,” Crump mentioned on Tuesday, referencing the 2015 killing of 17-year-old McDonald in Chicago, who was shot 16 instances by police. The incident was caught on video that the police division and former mayor Rahm Emanuel subsequently fought to withhold footage from the general public.

Two deputies with the Sangamon county sheriff’s workplace, in Springfield, the state capital, responded to Massey’s house early on the morning of 6 July. After shining their flashlights within the home windows of her house, deputy Sean Grayson and his accomplice spent a number of minutes in Massey’s front room, talking along with her in regards to the cause for her name and asking her for identification. At one level, Grayson instructed Massey to take away a pot of boiling water from the range to keep away from beginning a hearth. Massey walked into the kitchen and commenced to take away the pot because the officers backed away, saying they had been transferring away from Massey and the pot.

Within the video, Massey asks the officers: “The place you going?” To which Grayson replies: “Away out of your sizzling steaming water.”

Massey responds: “I rebuke you within the title of Jesus,” at which level Grayson unholsters his gun.

“You higher fucking not. I swear to God I’ll fucking shoot you proper in your fucking face,” Grayson warns.

As Massey begins to duck, she says “I’m sorry” twice earlier than Grayson closes the gap between the 2 and fires three photographs, placing her slightly below the attention, killing her.

After taking pictures her, Grayson makes an attempt to dissuade his accomplice from tending to Massey. Sooner or later within the aftermath of the taking pictures, police audio reveals somebody saying Massey killed herself.

“Simply confirmed: self-inflicted?” a dispatcher asks.

“Self-inflicted,” somebody replies.

When Massey’s household arrived on the hospital after she had been pronounced lifeless, they are saying police continued to present conflicting variations of occasions.

Massey’s household mentioned that if it weren’t for Grayson’s accomplice turning on his physique digital camera, the killing might have been lined up.

“Simply think about if there wasn’t a video, what the narrative would have been,” Crump mentioned.

Massey’s killing has drawn condemnation from Democratic politicians throughout Illinois and all through the nation, together with from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. At Tuesday’s press convention, Crump mentioned the household has spoken to Illinois governor JB Pritzker about the opportunity of laws associated to officers such Grayson, who had served with six completely different departments since 2020. He additionally has two convictions for driving below the affect, which occurred in 2015 and 2016, in keeping with reporting from a number of shops.

Crump and Massey’s household have questioned whether or not Grayson ought to have been employed as a deputy. And at press conferences on Monday and Tuesday, Wilburn known as for Sangamon county sheriff Jack Campbell to resign, “not within the subsequent 24 hours, not within the subsequent 12 hours. Instantly.”