Between 2019 and 2021, police killed at least 178 victims who had called them for help. That cruel irony continues today. On July 6, 2024, Sonya Massey dialed 911, fearing a break-in. Sangamon County Deputy Sheriff Sean Grayson responded by shooting her in the face.
Police officers laughed at Massey, who had schizophrenia. Grayson fired three shots at her, claiming a pot of boiling water on her stove was a threat. As Massey lay dying, he discouraged his partner from administering medical aid. This is a pattern with cops who don’t use their first aid training.
In another high-profile case since the killing of George Floyd, Grayson has been charged with first-degree murder - placing him among the 1% of cops prosecuted for murder in fatal shootings. Still, despite Grayson’s previous DUI arrests and working for six different law enforcement agencies in four years, a conviction is statistically unlikely.
Residents of Springfield, Illinois, have taken to the streets to protest Massey’s murder. Her family has drawn a connection to one of their relatives, William K. Donnegan, who was lynched and left to die in this same city in a 1908 “race riot.” Like her, he was also seeking police assistance.
That white mob violence led to the creation of the NAACP. Mass waves of Black resistance forged the next several decades. Resistance to Massey’s murder today can build on a legacy of combating a police system that was never designed to keep Black people safe.