Sonya Massey from Springfield, IL was shot and killed by Sean Grayson, a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, in the early morning hours of July 6, 2024, after Massey called the police to report a suspected intruder on her property. Now, at least one TikTok creator has spoken out about what happened.
After Massey’s murder, captured in graphic body cam footage, Grayson was indicted on three counts of first-degree murder and one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct, according to CNN. Grayson pleaded not guilty. The body cam footage shows Massey, who was Black, may have been having a mental health episode when Grayson, a white officer, shot and killed her.
It’s expected that Grayson’s defense may say Massey threatened him with a pan of boiling water before he fired. Many, including TikTok creator Rae, who identifies as a law enforcement officer but doesn’t clarify in her post where she works, claim it was a racially motivated incident.
Rae calls on law enforcement to condemn the killing
In her post, Rae says she’s worked in law enforcement for seven years, and “that video of that officer ‘unaliving’ that woman is f**king disgusting.” As a cop, she’s disgusted about what happened, but also disgusted by her fellow officers who refuse to “speak out against this,” she says. “This officer went into this situation wanting to kill someone,” she alleges. “Why are there not more speaking out against this?”
Rae then dismisses the boiling water threat, or that Grayson fired in self-defense. “This wasn’t about a pot was it,” she says. “This was a race-related issue… Justice for Sonya Massey, as law enforcement, we failed you.”
Grayson’s actions were declared “an unjustified use of force”
While law enforcement across the country has perhaps been too silent about Sonya Massey’s killing, as Rae suggests, Sean Grayson was fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office upon his arrest. Sangamon County state attorney John Milhiser said the Illinois state investigation determined that Grayson was not “justified in his use of deadly force,” according to CNN. In a statement announcing Grayson was fired, the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office noted, “It is clear that [Grayson] did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards.”
Since Massey’s death, it’s also been revealed that Grayson had worked for six Illinois law enforcement agencies in four years, and had two DUI charges on his record. It’s unclear if he left those jobs for disciplinary or conduct issues. Grayson is a U.S. Army veteran, however. And in 2016, he was discharged for “misconduct (serious offense),” ABC News reported. Citing U.S. Army policy, the nature of Grayson’s misconduct was not disclosed.