Illinois State Police have released footage showing the moment a sheriff’s deputy shot a Black woman dead in her home as they responded to her call for help.
Sonya Massey, 36, was shot on July 6 as she removed a pot of boiling water from the stove at the officers’ request, as they responded to a 911 call in which she reported a suspected prowler.
Her killing has sparked widespread outrage and has been condemned by US President Joe Biden.
Sean Grayson, the 30-year-old white deputy who shot her, has been dismissed from the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office and was last week charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
He fired three shots at Ms Massey, according to the indictment. He also faces a charge of aggravated battery and one of official misconduct. Grayson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Newly released bodycam video shows how he and another deputy responding to Ms Massey’s call.
They arrived at her home in Springfield, 200 miles southwest of Chicago, shortly before 1am on July 6.
The officers walked around her house and found a black SUV with broken windows in the driveway.
It took Ms Massey three minutes to open the door after the deputies knocked, and she immediately said: "Don't hurt me."
She appeared to be confused as they spoke at the door. Ms Massey repeated that she needed help, referred to God, and told them she didn't know who owned the car.
Inside the house, the deputies remain standing as she sits on her sofa and looks through her handbag for identification, so the deputies could complete a report before leaving.
Grayson then points out a pot sitting on a flame on the stove.
"We don't need a fire while we're here," he can be heard saying.
Ms Massey immediately stands and goes to the cooker, moving the pot to near the sink. She and Grayson seem to share a laugh over her pan of "steaming hot water".
She then says "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus”, after which Grayson aims his gun at her and threatens to shoot her in the face.
As Grayson instructs her to drop the pot, Ms Massey says, "I'm sorry" and begins to duck. Grayson again instructs her to drop the pot. The second officer then also draws his firearm.
Ms Massey does not appear to make any verbal threats or any movement in the officers' direction.
Grayson makes two steps toward the kitchen, shouts at her to drop the pot again and begins shooting.
He then alerts his superiors that he has shot Ms Massey in the face and turns on his body camera. The entire incident was caught on the second officer's camera.
Grayson was in the living room as he fired the shots, facing Ms Massey but separated by a counter dividing the living room and kitchen.
Prosecutors have said the separation allowed Grayson both “distance and relative cover” from Ms Massey and the pot of hot water.
After shooting her, Grayson discouraged his partner from grabbing a medical kit to save her.
“You can go get it, but that's a headshot,” he said. “There's nothing you can do, man.”
He added: "What else do we do? I'm not taking hot boiling water to the f*****g face"
Noting that Ms Massey was still breathing, he relented and said he would get his kit, too. The other deputy said: "We can at least try to stop the bleeding."
Grayson told responding police: “She had boiling water and came at me, with boiling water. She said she was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus and came at me with boiling water.”
Mr Biden said in a statement on Monday: "Sonya’s death at the hands of a police officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not.
"I commend the actions taken by the Springfield States Attorney’s office. While we wait for the case to be prosecuted, let us pray to comfort the grieving," he said, calling on lawmakers to pass a stalled police reform bill named after George Floyd, who was choked to death by a white officer in 2020.
"It is shocking. I mean, every part of the video," Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights lawyer who is representing Massey's family, said at a briefing.
Mr Crump said Ms Massey may have appeared to have mental health issues, but the officer was not justified in using deadly force. The video shows she was neither aggressive nor threatening to the officers, he said.
"Just imagine if there wasn't a video, what the narrative would have been," Mr Crump said.
Grayson's attorney, Daniel Fultz, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The defendant was jailed until his next court date on August 26.
