Illinois governor calls on Sangamon County sheriff to resign after Sonya Massey shooting

By Brad Parks, Amy Simonson and Ray Sanchez, CNN

(CNN) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called on Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell to resign Wednesday over his handling of the fatal officer-involved shooting of Sonya Massey – a request Campbell dismissed as “political maneuvering during a tragic event.”

“We join the Massey family in calling for Sheriff Campbell’s resignation immediately so the Springfield and Sangamon County community can begin to rebuild and restore trust between citizens and the sheriff’s department,” Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said in a joint statement.

On July 6, former deputy sheriff Sean Grayson responded to a report of a prowler at Massey’s home. Bodycam footage from another deputy showed Massey saying she rebuked Grayson, and the former deputy threatening the 36-year-old Black woman. Grayson asked Massey to remove a pan of water from a burner on the stove. Grayson moved away from the steaming water.

“Sonya turned to face me holding the pot. I did not know the type of liquid that was boiling,” Grayson wrote in his report three days after the incident.

“I advised Sonya to put the boiling liquid down. Sonya stated (she) was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus. She stated this twice. I interpreted this to mean she was going to kill me.”

The encounter ended with Grayson shooting Massey in the head and failing to render aid. Massey’s family has said that Sonya Massey struggled with mental health issues.

Grayson, a 30-year-old deputy who has since been fired, was indicted by a grand jury on July 17 on three counts of first-degree murder and one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in connection with the shooting. Grayson has entered a not guilty plea and was denied pretrial release, according to court records.

The sheriff’s office has come under scrutiny after it was disclosed that Grayson was discharged from the Army for serious misconduct and a history of driving under the influence yet still managed to get employed since 2020 by six Illinois law enforcement agencies – at three of them, as a part-time officer, employment records show.

“A full month has passed since the murder of Sonya Massey. In that time Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell has had ample opportunity to respond with conviction and purpose to questions about his hiring of the perpetrator, Deputy Sheriff Sean Grayson, and about reforms he would propose for his department to avoid this from happening again,” Pritzker and Stratton said.

“The community remains in fear that calling the Sheriff’s Office when they feel endangered will lead to another murder of an innocent resident,” Pritzker and Stratton said.

In a statement, Campbell said his office “continues to grieve for Sonya Massey and her family” and that deputies in his office “feel betrayed by one of their own.”

“The Sheriff’s Office is willing to modify our hiring practices in order to prevent an incident like this from occurring again. However, before changes can be made, it is important to identify the problem,” the statement said.

“Calls for my resignation are nothing more than political maneuvering during a tragic event and only hurt the good citizens of Sangamon County. I was overwhelmingly elected to lead the Sheriff’s Office through both good times and bad,” Campbell said.

Pritzker and Stratton also criticized Campbell for not meeting with Massey’s family, saying his “refusal to meet with a grieving family face to face when one of your Sheriff’s Deputies killed their innocent mother, sister and daughter is inexcusable.”

Campbell, in his statement, said his four requests to meet with the family have been “rejected or not acacepted.”

“I am still willing to meet with the family,” the sheriff said.

CNN has reached out to an attorney for the Massey family for comment.

Deputy ‘needed more training’

Campbell has said no law enforcement agencies reported problems with Grayson before he was hired in Sangamon County, though previous employers had commented he “needed more training.” Grayson received 16 weeks of academy training, according to Campbell.

Grayson’s personnel file included “references from people I know well,” the sheriff said after the shooting, adding those “insights are invaluable in making informed hiring decisions.”

The former deputy was discharged from the US Army in 2016 due to “misconduct (serious offense),” according to a Department of Defense document included in Grayson’s personnel file during his time at the Kincaid Police Department in Illinois. The personnel file was obtained by CNN affiliate KSHB.

Grayson was charged with two DUI misdemeanor offenses in Illinois’ Macoupin County – one in 2015 and the other in 2016, court records show.

The ex-deputy acknowledged the DUI charges when he applied to be an officer at Auburn Police Department in Illinois in 2021. He worked there from July 2021 to May 2022. CNN’s review of Grayson’s records there did not reveal any major problems or disciplinary issues.

In May 2022, Grayson started working at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois, records show. He wrote the sheriff a brief letter detailing his “terrible decision to drink and drive.”

Grayson’s letter also said he lost his driving privileges for one year after pleading guilty to his second DUI, in 2016.

A background check was performed prior to Grayson’s hiring in Sangamon County, Campbell said. Prior DUI convictions “are not disqualifying criteria for a deputy,” Campbell said.

Grayson did not appear to have disciplinary issues as an Auburn officer but records from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office recommended he take “high stress decision making classes.” The records said Grayson failed to slow down after his boss called off a vehicle pursuit. Grayson was driving about 110 mph before striking a deer, according to the records.

A Logan County chief deputy wrote that Grayson “failed to show due caution while driving through stop intersections.” Grayson’s supervisor “terminated the pursuit” and the deputy turned off his emergency lights, the report stated. But Grayson “continued at a high rate of speed (110/55 mph zone) prior to striking the deer.”

Audio recordings that appear to coincide with Logan County’s internal review of the incident captured the chief deputy admonishing Grayson for describing it inaccurately in his report despite previous orders to check for accuracy.

A spokesperson for the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office has said the agency did not receive a complete disciplinary report from Logan County about Grayson, including his reprimand for an inaccurate report of the traffic incident.

Logan County Sheriff Mark Landers told CNN in a statement that his office did not “receive a formal or informal written request for Sean Grayson’s personnel file and/or any disciplinary reports relating to Sean Grayson.”

“Additionally, no member of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office spoke to any member of my command staff about Sean Grayson prior to him leaving our employment,” Landers said.

Grayson’s attorney Daniel Fultz has declined comment.

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