Sonya Massey killed by gunshot wound to the head, autopsy finds

Sonya Massey, the Black woman fatally shot by an Illinois sheriff’s deputy in her home this month, died from a gunshot wound after a bullet passed through her head, an autopsy report released Friday showed.

The Sangamon District According to the coroner’s office, the bullet entered under her left eye, punctured a carotid artery and exited through the back of her neck. In addition to the fatal gunshot wound, Massey also suffered minor blunt force injuries to her right leg, an autopsy showed. The results were released Friday morning, three weeks after Massey’s death on July 6.

The White sheriff’s deputy who shot her in the face, Sean Grayson, 30, was charged last week with first-degree murder. An Illinois State Police use-of-force expert who investigated the shooting determined it was not justified, Prosecutor Mary Rodgers said in court documents.

Massey, 36, was the mother of two teenage boys, a son and a daughter. She enjoyed cooking, doing hair and being with her children, according to a GoFundMe page set up by her family. She weighed just under 112 pounds and was wearing her nightgown and pajama pants when she was killed, the autopsy report showed.

The killing has sparked widespread condemnation, including a large protest in Manhattan on Thursday, and grief among black Americans. More than 1,170 people have been killed by police in the past 12 months, according to a Washington Post database, and black Americans are killed at more than twice the rate of white Americans.

This week, President Biden called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a set of reforms named after the 46-year-old Black man killed by Minneapolis police in 2020. The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives in March 2021, but negotiations in the Senate stalled. A renewed attempt to pass the law in 2023, after Memphis police killed 29-year-old Black man Tyre Nichols, also failed due to opposition from Republicans.

“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,” Biden said in a statement.

Massey called 911 from her Springfield, Illinois, home on July 6 to report a burglar. When Grayson and another officer arrived around 12:50 p.m., they inspected the property and were in contact with her for nearly 20 minutes.

When Grayson saw a pot on the stove, he told her to take it off the heat, according to body camera footage released Monday. Massey did so and put the pot in the sink. When Grayson said he was going into the living room to get away from “hot, steaming water,” she said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

Grayson then pulled out his gun and pointed it at Massey, threatening to shoot her in the face. She ducked and said, “Okay, I’m sorry.” Grayson came up to her and allegedly fired three times.

This development story is being updated.