Deputy who killed Massey's record should've raised flags, experts say

Sonya Massey, left, talks with former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson outside her home in body.

By John O’Connor and Lolita Baldor

July 29, 2024 12:59 PM PT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. —

The Illinois sheriff’s deputy charged in the shooting death of Sonya Massey was kicked out of the Army for the first of two drunk driving convictions in which he had a weapon in his car, authorities said, but that didn’t stop multiple law enforcement agencies from giving him a badge.

Before his policing career began with six jobs in four years — the first three of which were part time — Sean Grayson was convicted twice within a year of driving under the influence, which cost him his role in the military. The convictions along with his previous employment record should have raised serious questions when the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department hired him in May 2023, law enforcement experts say.

Grayson, 30, who has since been fired, is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in the death of Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman who had called 911 about a suspected prowler at her home in Springfield, 200 miles southwest of Chicago.

Grayson, who is white, has pleaded not guilty.

“Six jobs in four years should have raised a red flag. And you would ask why he wasn’t hired full time in any of those [part-time] jobs,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. “Combined with a track record of DUIs, it would be enough to do further examination as to whether or not he would be a good fit.”

Grayson, who enlisted in the Army in 2014, was charged with DUI in Macoupin County, just south of Sangamon County, after traffic stops on Aug. 10, 2015, and again on July 26, 2016.

The first DUI led to his discharge from the military in February 2016 for “serious misconduct,” according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel information. They added that he’d had an unregistered gun in his vehicle.

Macoupin County State’s Atty. Jordan Garrison confirmed that police had found a gun in the center console of Grayson’s vehicle, but said prosecutors had declined to file weapons charges against him because he was then a resident of Fort Riley, Kan. Kansas allows the open carrying of firearms.

Grayson received a general discharge under honorable conditions rather than an honorable discharge because he’d been charged by a civilian law enforcement agency and his military service otherwise was good.

His attorney, Daniel Fultz, declined to comment Monday.

A misdemeanor DUI doesn’t preclude someone from serving in law enforcement, said Sean Smoot, chair of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, but a hiring agency can consider it.

“Some police departments would not have hired someone with one DUI,” he said. “I am shocked an agency would hire someone with two DUIs, but multiple agencies apparently did.”

Sonya Massey’s father, James Wilburn, has demanded the resignation of Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell.

“He does not intend to step down,” said Campbell spokesman Jeff Wilhite.

A statement from Campbell’s office indicated that the county merit commission and state law enforcement board had recommended Grayson’s certification as an officer despite the DUIs, and that he had passed a drug test, criminal background check, psychological evaluation and 16-week academy course.

Body-camera video of the killing released last week has unnerved the Illinois capital, where a 1908 race riot prompted the creation of the NAACP a year later.

“Black women are under attack,” said Teresa Haley, a consultant and founder of Visions 1908, a social and economic justice and education advocacy group. “As I watched the video, I thought, ‘This is not murder. This is an assassination.’”

In the video, Grayson and another officer search outside Massey’s house for a prowler before knocking on her front door. Before Massey answers it, several minutes pass, during which Grayson makes a comment that she’s dead inside and calls impatiently for her.

When she opens the door, Massey, who had suffered mental health issues, says, “Don’t hurt me,” acts confused and repeats, “Please, God.”

Grayson responds in a condescending manner, asking whether there’s anything else he can do for her. As he tries to get her name for a report, he enters the house.

“His conduct before, during and after suggests that this guy was a loose cannon, and that’s being polite,” said Kalfani Ture, a former police officer, now assistant professor of criminal justice at Widener University in Chester, Pa., and an instructor in the New York Police Department’s academy.

Inside Massey’s home, video shows Grayson directing that a pan of water be removed from a flame on the stove. Massey appears to set it near the sink. After the two joke about Grayson moving away from her “hot, steaming water,” Massey inexplicably says, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

That prompts Grayson to pull his gun. Massey apologizes and ducks behind a counter, but when Grayson yells at her to drop the pot, she comes back up and appears to pick it up again. Grayson fires three times, striking her in the face.

He then discourages his partner from getting his medical kit, saying, “That’s a head shot.” After relenting and retrieving his own, he returns to find an emergency medical crew on the scene, then drops his kit on the floor and says he won’t “waste [his] med stuff.”

“That’s not characteristic of an officer. That is characteristic of someone who has a depraved indifference to human life,” Ture said. “And this incident is not an aberration. Someone like this is pretty consistent in their display of this type of profile.”

Ture said Massey probably picked up the pot again because she’d already put it down before Grayson yelled at her to do so, and was confused by his aggressive orders. He moved quickly to lethal force despite having cover from the threat — substantial distance and a counter between him and Massey — without trying options including a stun gun, chemical spray or physical force to overpower the diminutive woman, Ture said.

Pulling his weapon escalated the incident, Wexler said.

“He should have slowed things down: Communicate, have a Plan B and know where the door is to get out of the house,” he said, “not put himself in a position where he had no alternative but to use deadly force by standing still, pulling out his gun and barking orders.”

O’Connor and Baldor write for the Associated Press and reported from Springfield and Washington, respectively.