Major development after Sonya Massey shooting rocked America

There has been a major development in a case centred around a 20-second video that rocked a nation.

The day before Sonya Massey was shot in the face in the kitchen of her home, the 36-year-old’s worried mother placed a call to police.

“She’s been mentally ... having a mental breakdown,” her mother Donna told police in the US state of Illinois, according to a recording of that phone call.

“She thinks everybody’s after her.”

Donna went on to issue a plea, one that would unltimately go unheeded.

Hours later, at 12.49am on July 6 last year, Sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson and another officer were greeted at the door of Massey’s home. She had called for help, claiming there were unexplained noises including banging on an outside wall.

“It sounds like somebody was banging on the side of my house. Could y’all come and see,” Massey told police.

Inside the home, a simple request set in motion a series of events that ended in tragedy.

Grayson asked Massey to check on a pot of boiling water on the stove, saying “we don’t need a fire while we’re here.”

But when she grabbed the pot, Grayson could be heard shouting: “Get away from the hot steaming water.”

Calmly, Massey responded: “Away from my hot steaming water? I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

“You better not,” Grayson told her in audio captured on police bodycam video. “You better f***ing not, I swear to God, I’ll shoot you in your f***ing face.”

Apologising, Massey could be seen crouching behind a counter as the officer screamed “drop the f***ing pot”.

Seconds later, the mother-of-two was dead.

Sonya Massey speaking with Sean Grayson outside her home moments before she was shot dead. Picture: Illinois State Police

The 20-second video of the police shooting rocked America and was seen around the world as just another example of a white police officer killing an African-American civilian.

Grayson was charged with murder and has pleaded not guilty. But while he waits to learn his fate, there has been a major development in the case.

Massey’s family, which includes two young children, were awarded $10m ($A15.9m) after a settlement was reached with the local sheriff’s department and county board.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has represented the families of other African American victims of police violence, welcomed the agreement at a Zoom press conference on Wednesday, calling it a “first step in getting full justice for Sonya Massey.”

“It is very bittersweet that on what would have been her 37th birthday, we announce this historic settlement, which is only the first step in the journey for justice,” Crump said.

Antonio Romanucci, another family attorney, said “Sonya reached out to law enforcement for help and instead received brutal, horrific treatment.

“When Sonya called 911 she didn’t know it but that was her death sentence,” Romanucci said. “She called in her own death when she called for help.”

The tragedy came four years after the US was rocked by protests when black man George Floyd was killed by a while police officer in Minnesota.

His death revived scrutiny of race relations and sparked calls for police reform. But it wasn’t enough to save Massey.

Sonya Massey grabbing the pot of water from the stove as Sean Grayson pulls out his gun and aims it at her. Picture: Illinois State Police

The police bodycam of Massey’s death is not the only footage of her engaging with police.

The day before she was shot and killed, officers attended her home after concerns for her welfare.

In separate videos, Massey can be seen sitting in a vehicle asking about the whereabouts of her children.

“They’re at their dad’s house, they’re worried about you too,” an officer tells her.

“Everybody just wants you to be OK, that’s all it is.”

She explains that she is upset about the lights and water being turned off at her home.

When asked by officers if she had been taking her medicine, she tells them she took it “last night”.

In the days after her death, Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell issued a statement to denounce Grayson’s “unjustifiable and reckless decision” to open fire inside the Massey home.

Mr Crump said Massey was apologising when she was killed.

“When Sonya Massey was staring at the barrel of his gun, she stooped down, said, ‘Sorry, sir, sorry,’ and the bullet was shot while she was in this stooped position, coming up,” he told reporters at the time.

“The autopsy confirms what everybody already knows, that this was just a senseless, unnecessary, excessive use of force.”

Grayson appeared briefly in court in January and is expected to appear again on March 24.

— with AFP