The father of Sonia Massey, 36, who was shot and killed by a Springfield, Illinois, sheriff’s deputy after she rebuked him in the name of Jesus, called the officer an “employee of the devil.” according to The Christian StandtThe shooting happened on July 6 after Massey called police to report an intruder outside his home. Body camera footage In the video, Massey is seen speaking with Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Shawn Grayson, and the conversation becomes tense after Grayson asks Massey to check a pot that’s boiling on the stove.
“We don’t need fire while we’re here,” he says.
But as she removed the boiling pot from the stove and into the sink, the officers backed away from her and she asked them, “Where are you going?”
“Yes, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” Massey shot back. “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Grayson tells her to stop or he’ll shoot her.
“I understand, I’m sorry,” she said, and the officers ordered her to drop the pot.
Body camera footage shows Massey holding a pot next to the sink faucet, but then removing her hands from the pot while still wearing gloved hands, and assuming a defensive position with her hands over her ears, as if expecting a gunshot.
Grayson can be heard yelling at her as he pulls out a gun and fires several shots.
In the video, the deputy can be heard saying he shot Massey in the head and that she is likely dead, and also suggesting there is no point in giving her medical attention.
“She attacked me with boiling water” and “she was trying to rebuke me in the name of Jesus,” Grayson told another officer, but the video footage refutes Grayson’s claim that Massey attacked him with a pot of boiling water.
“He actually walked around the counter and engaged her to get a better shot. What the state prosecutor’s investigation found is that he actually engaged her,” said civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump. CBS“He had a lot of ways to avoid shooting her in the face. He could have backed away. He could have used a Taser.”
in statement Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who released the suspect on Monday, called the shooting “unjustified and reckless.”
“Sonia Massey lost her life due to the unjust and reckless decisions of former Deputy Sheriff Shawn Grayson,” Campbell said. “Grayson had other options and should have taken advantage of them. His actions were unacceptable and do not reflect the values or training of this agency,” he added. “He will now face justice through the criminal justice system and will never work in law enforcement again. Ms. Massey lost her life needlessly and her family deserves an explanation and I believe the legal process will provide that.”
Grayson was indicted by a grand jury on July 17 and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a firearm and official misconduct.
Massey left behind two children, one of four daughters.
WATCH: Family calls for Sangamon County, Illinois sheriff to be fired in shooting death of Sonia Massey | CBS Chicago
Photo credit: ©YouTube/CBS News, Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office
