Illinois deputy charged with murder in fatal shooting of woman who called 911

abcnews.go ^ | 07/18/2024 | AP

[Tired of Taxes]

Bodycam video will be released to the public on Monday.

Hard to imagine a scenario that justifies shooting someone over a pot of water (even if it’s boiling).

[Bernard]

Springfield is the state capital of Illinois. Just about every person who is on a payroll there is either on a government payroll, or works in some service business catering to government.

Normal, Illinois, by name, is several miles north of Springfield, Normal in the usual sense of the word surrounds Springfield, Chicago, Rockford, and the St. Louis suburbs but normal does not have direct connections with those areas.

[Tired of Taxes]

UPDATE

The bodycam video has been released:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSN0cqzl__4

[Leaning Right]

That poor woman wasn’t even standing up when she was shot. And because of the distance, she was no threat to either cop. The shooter cop should hang. Literally hang.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Thanks for the ping.

Sickens me. A friend of mine who retired from the police force after 30 years told me that he was proudest of the fact that in all those 30 years he never had to fire his weapon. Good cops don't get their jollies shooting people.

[Tired of Taxes]

Agreed. Poor lady.

[Leaning Right]

I don’t even think that murdered woman had access to boiling water. She mentioned something about turning off the stove. Then she grabbed the pot and went to the sink.

It’s hard to tell conclusively, but it looks to me like she emptied the water into the sink. She wasn’t advancing towards either officer.

One thing is for sure. If it weren’t for body cameras, this would have been ruled a good shoot. And the shooter probably would have gotten some sort award for bravery, saving his partner from the woman and all.

[Tired of Taxes]

Your friend sounds like an honorable man.

[wgmalabama]

Most cops should never be cops. IQ, Aptitude and legal knowledge with good pay could change police from revenue agents/ gang bangers in blue to trusted local neighborhood assistance. Will never happen.

[Tired of Taxes]

I see no reason to shoot her, either. They told her to take care of the pot. She did what they told her to do. Then, they went from 0 to 100 so quickly.

This article gives more information:
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/sonya-massey-bodycam-footage-illinois-911-fatal-police-shooting/

He seems to have reacted to her saying, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

I don’t know why she said that, but he seems to have believed “rebuke” meant she was threatening to hurt him.

[Leaning Right]

It just gets worse and worse. From that article:

“ Grayson [the shooter] has worked for six different law enforcement agencies since 2020.”

———-

That is almost unbelievable. Was this guy a “gypsy cop”, a cop who gets fired from one department only to be hired by another, over and over again?

[Tired of Taxes]

I missed that part. Good question.

The fact that he worked for six different agencies in four years does not sound good.

[Tired of Taxes]

I just saw this video that slows down Bodycam #2:

https://x.com/KollegeKidd/status/1815662158862221623

It looks like she did pick up the pot again. Also, is that steam where the water landed?

I still think he didn’t have to shoot her.

Her father said she had some mental health issues, which were obvious to me in that video.

[Leaning Right]

> It looks like she did pick up the pot again. <

I don’t think it matters if she did. A pot is a common kitchen item. So what if she decided to move it? It’s not like she picked up a crossbow.

It’s also worth noting that a pot of boiling water is not a long range weapon. And this woman wasn’t charging either officer. She was just standing there. It was the shooting officer who moved towards her. He even had to walk around a counter to get a clear shot.

> I still think he didn’t have to shoot her. <

Agreed.

Lots of things went wrong here. And to make it even worse, some troublemakers are trying to make it a racial thing. I don’t see that at all.

[Tired of Taxes]

"He even had to walk around a counter to get a clear shot."

Agreed. I didn't see a reason to pull the gun when he did. She hadn't come toward him with the pot. She was still at the sink.

But, now we can see that, after he pulled the gun and she ducked down, she lifted the pot over her head and threw the water.

Maybe, in her mind, she was acting in self-defense at that point. Whatever the case, she was far enough away that the water couldn't reach them.

If anything, she would've burned herself with the boiling water. Then, instead of shooting her, they could've arrested her.

[Leaning Right]

> But, now we can see that, after he pulled the gun and she ducked down, she lifted the pot over her head and threw the water. <

Thanks for that link. You’re right. She did lift the pot over her head after she ducked down. That was something I missed until I saw it in slow motion. And it looked like she was starting to stand up, although she wasn’t on her feet yet.

The pot’s top was in a vertical position. So either it was empty or the water was coming down on her or near her.

> Whatever the case, she was far enough away that the water couldn’t reach them. <

Yes, indeed. Based on the video you linked, a First Degree murder charge seems a bit much. But neither is it a case of officer self-defense. I suppose this will end in some sort of plea bargain. Manslaughter, maybe.