White deputy Sean Grayson shot Sonya Massey, who called police in fear of a home intruder, after boiling water dispute
Massey, whom her daughter confirmed was paranoid-schizophrenic, had called police because she thought someone was trying to break into her home. When police arrived, they began looking into Masseyβs home with flashlights, a neighbor, Cheryl Evans, told the Guardian. Evans wondered why police had not knocked on her door, as they typically have done in the past when searching for suspects. Eventually, Grayson, who is white, and his partner entered the home where they began speaking to Massey.
After an initial discussion and request for Masseyβs driverβs license,Grayson spotted a pot of boiling water on the stove and ordered Massey to remove it to avoid starting a fire. In doing so, Massey asks the officers β who visibly distance themselves from her as she goes to handle the pot β why they moved away from her.
βWhere you going?β she asks them.
βAway from your hot steaming water,β Grayson answers, with a laugh, before Massey responds: βAway from the hot steaming water? Oh, Iβll rebuke you in the name of Jesus.β
With his gun drawn, Grayson closed the distance between himself and Massey, who was beginning to kneel behind a counter with her hands up.
βYou better fucking not, I swear to God Iβll fucking shoot you right in your fucking face,β Grayson warned.
Massey can be heard saying, βIβm sorry,β as Grayson continues to advance. βIβm sorry,β she says again as Grayson fires three shots, striking her with a bullet below the eye that exited from the back of her neck.
As Massey lay dying on her kitchen floor, Grayson says heβll go get his medical kit to render aid.
βThatβs a headshot. Sheβs done,β Grayson says before going to get the med kit.
As the pair stand there with their guns still drawn, Grayson says: βIβm not taking a bullet out of her fucking head,β then points out that the water from the pot had reached his feet.
βWhat else can we do?β Grayson asks his partner. βIβm not taking hot boiling water to the fucking face.β
Masseyβs death carries on a troubling legacy of racial violence in Springfield: Masseyβs family said she is a descendant of William Donnegan, a Black man who was lynched by a white mob but survived during the cityβs infamous 1908 race riots that took 17 Black lives over a two-day period in mid-August of that year. As a result of the violence and carnage, a group of white and Black Americans banded together to create the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Masseyβs family said that the irony of having to reach out to the NAACP for help after her killing is not lost on them.