Video footage shows a sheriff’s deputy shooting and killing an unarmed woman in Springfield, Illinois.

The Sangamon County District Attorney’s Office released body camera footage Monday that shows then-Springfield Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson fatally shooting Sonya Massey in her home.

The shooting occurred just after midnight on July 6 after Massey, 36, called 911 to report a potential burglar. The video shows Massey inviting Grayson and another, unnamed officer into her home. The officers talk to Massey for several minutes, when Grayson tells Massey to get a pot of boiling water off her stove.

As Massey moves the pot to her sink, she tells Grayson she will “punish him, in the name of Jesus.” Grayson told Massey, “I’m going to shoot you right in your fucking face” before he closed the distance between them and opened fire.

Massey, who was unarmed, was punched in the face.

The video shows Massey bleeding on her kitchen floor, and Grayson discouraging the other officer from getting a first aid kit because of the severity of Massey’s injury. The other officer, however, did render aid until medical help arrived. Prosecutors say Grayson at no point attempted to help.

After the shooting, Grayson can be heard on bodycam footage expressing concern about “hot boiling water” being poured in his face.

He later tells an unnamed officer at the scene that Massey had boiling water and was “coming at him.” The video, however, does not show Massey making any move toward Grayson. Instead, she cowers in fear, says “I’m sorry,” and tries to crouch behind the counter after the officers drew their weapons.

Grayson didn’t turn on his bodycam until after the incident. Footage of the shooting came from the bodycam of the other officer in the house.

Grayson has since been fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office and is charged with three counts of first-degree murderHe has denied guilt to the criminal charges against him and is being held in jail until his trial date.

Sangamon County District Attorney John Milhiser, who is prosecuting Grayson, said last week that a review of the case “does not support a finding that (Grayson) was justified in his use of deadly force.”

After the footage was made public, several state and federal elected officials expressed outrage and condolences to the family. In a statementPresident Joe Biden said the shooting was evidence that Congress must enact police reforms.

“Sonya called police because she was concerned about a potential intruder. When we call for help, as Americans, we should all be able to do so, no matter who we are or where we live, without fear for our lives,” Biden said in the statement. “Sonya’s death at the hands of a responding officer reminds us that Black Americans too often face fear for their safety in ways that many of us do not.”

In a statement, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul called the video “appalling.”

“I offer my deepest condolences to the family of Sonya Massey as they relive a moment that no family should have to go through,” Raoul said. “As the community reacts to the release of the footage, I urge calm as this case makes its way through the criminal justice system.”

The Massey family has hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has worked with the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Crump said the images “will shock the conscience of America, just like the photos of Emmitt Till after he was lynched.” Till was a black Chicago boy who was lynched in Mississippi in the 1950s.

“She’s gurgling… blood is pouring out of her face,” Crump said. “Instead of having an ounce of humanity, (Grayson) says that damn B was crazy. Where’s the humanity?”

Meanwhile, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus called for justice for Massey. Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, who chairs the caucus, said in a statement that the charges against Grayson are not enough.

“Justice demands answers and accountability. We need to know how and why someone capable of such a heinous act was given a badge and a gun in the first place,” Peters said. “The repeated killings of unarmed Black people across the country are disgusting and emotionally traumatizing. Sonya Massey is dead because she called 911 for help. Our communities deserve better.”

A quick investigation

The body camera footage was turned over to the Illinois State Police immediately after the shooting. The agency completed its investigation after 11 days and concluded that Grayson’s use of force was “not justified.” A “use-of-force expert” who investigated the incident compared it to a scenario in which an officer throws himself in front of a moving vehicle and then justifies the use of force out of fear of being hit. In court documents, prosecutors also noted that Grayson is 6 feet 3 inches and weighs more than 200 pounds, while Massey was about 5 feet 10 inches and 110 pounds.

In a statement, Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said Grayson “did not act as trained or in accordance with standards.”

Massey’s family said they were pleased with how quickly local authorities acted to charge Grayson. But Massey’s father, James Wilburn, said Grayson shouldn’t have been there in the first place. At a news conference Monday, Wilburn was overcome with frustration. Massey’s young daughter, who was standing next to him, had to leave the room.

“Because this man should never have had a badge,” Wilburn said. “He should never have had a gun. He should never have had the opportunity to kill my child. Because he had some serious stains on his record.”

Grayson had been with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office for a little over a year before the shooting. He had bounced around five smaller police and sheriff departments in the past four years. Before Grayson joined the police department, he was arrested twice for driving under the influence.

Wilburn, speaking in his daughter’s funeral last fridaycalled on local and state elected officials to raise standards for hiring police officers in Illinois.

“If you’re allowed to resign from a police department and then they recycle you and you go on to the next police department (that’s a problem),” Wilburn said. “Illinois could be number one … introduce a bill tomorrow that when you (resign) instead of being fired from a police department, you don’t go on to the next one.”

The local Black Lives Matter chapter, along with several other activist groups, held a barbecue in a park near downtown Springfield on Monday night, hours after the bodycam footage was made public. In addition to serving burgers and hot dogs, organizers set up two barber chairs and face-painting stations under the park’s pavilion.

People talked, laughed, danced to music blaring through loudspeakers, played basketball. But many also cried, hugged each other, and made signs that read, “Justice for Sonya Massey.”

Organizer Tiara Standage said the goal was to bring some peace and healing to her community.

“We don’t want violence in our community,” Standage said. “There’s already been a horrible act of violence against our community. So we just want to work together peacefully and get justice for Sonia Massey and also take care of our community.”

Like Wilburn, many community members are skeptical of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department. A petition There were also reports circulating that Sheriff Jack Campbell would be fired and that there would be an investigation into the department’s hiring practices.