Sonja Massey’s mom made a heartbreaking 911 call before her daughter was shot dead by a sheriff’s deputy — pleading with the dispatcher not to send a “prejudiced” cop who might “hurt her.”
Donna Massey called 911 around 9 a.m. on July 5, a day before her daughter, an Illinois mom of two, was killed by a responding deputy now charged with her first-degree murder, newly released recordings show.
The panicked mom begged for help for her daughter who was a “paranoid-schizophrenic” suffering a “mental breakdown” — while also admitting she was “scared of the police.”
“I don’t want you guys to hurt her, please,” the mom pleaded a day before her daughter’s death.
“Please don’t send no combative policemen that are prejudiced.”
In other 911 calls, a woman who doesn’t identify herself says people want to hurt her, and a day later, a woman identifying herself as Sonya Massey reports a neighbor had hit her with a brick.
When Sangamon County sheriff’s deputies arrived, bodycam footage showed Massey repeatedly saying she was just “trying to get help.”
She was eventually shot dead inside her home by a sheriff who threatened to “shoot [her] in the f–king face” for holding a pot of water, the bodycam footage showed.
Massey, 36, died from a gunshot wound just below her left eye, Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon said, with her death officially declared a homicide.
Massey’s family is being represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who called for a complete investigation and slammed the sheriff department’s response given the repeated pleas for help.
“The 911 calls capture the heartbreaking pleas of Sonya’s mother who desperately sought help for her daughter while expressing her deep fears about the potential for violence at the hands of the police,” Crump said in a statement.
“Despite these warnings, Sonya, a woman struggling with her mental health, was met with deadly force in her own home.
“The failure to provide the appropriate response to a mental health crisis has resulted in an irreversible loss for the Massey family and underscores a systemic issue that must be addressed,” he said.
Deputy Sean Grayson, who is white, is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in the shooting death of Massey, who was black.
He was fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office after pleading not guilty to the charges. He is being held without bond.
“Grayson immediately escalated to deadly force based on the decedent stating, ‘I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,’” Chief Deputy Anthony Mayfield wrote of the decision to fire him.
“When Deputy Grayson pointed his firearm at the decedent, she was not making any aggressive movements, only talking.”
Grayson’s failure to “attempt non-violent strategies and techniques” or to communicate led to Massey’s death, Mayfield said.
Records revealed that he worked short stints at various Illinois police departments. At the time of Massey’s death, Grayson had been with Sangamon County for 14 months.
With Post wires.
