Controversy surrounding the shooting intensified after the release last week of a body camera video that captured the gruesome July 6 incident. Activists have declared Sunday a National Day of Mourning for Massey, and gatherings were planned in New York, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Massey’s home of Springfield and elsewhere.
About 350 people attended the Springfield rally at Comer Cox Park, many of them wearing purple, Massey’s favorite color. The supporters were expected to march to the Illinois Capitol Building a few blocks away. Austin Randolph, president of the Springfield NAACP, said there was “no excuse, no explanation, no reason” for Massey’s death, and he called on the crowd to keep their “eye on the prize” as the deputy’s trial plays out.
Hundreds rallied over the weekend in Chicago, Brooklyn and other cities. At a Chicago “Justice for Sonya Massey” rally Saturday in Federal Plaza, Black Lives Matter organizer Troy Gatson told ABC 7’s Eyewitness News residents came together “to hear the voices of the community, so we can push back to stop the killings.”
On July 17, Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean P. Grayson was fired and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond.
The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police also filed a grievance saying Grayson was fired “without just cause” and seeking his reinstatement, payment of lost wages and benefits and “any other appropriate relief.”
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The Massey family’s lawyer Ben Crump said Massey had an encounter with police over a mental health issue the day before the shooting. Crump said Massey had driven herself to HSHS St. John’s Hospital seeking help but had returned home later that day.
An autopsy revealed she was killed by a bullet that entered under her left eye. “She needed a helping hand, not a bullet to the face,” Crump said.
