RIP Sonya Massey: Illinois Cops Shot Black Woman ‘In The Head’ At Her Home After She Called 911 For Help

Source: General / Radio One

There are more questions than answers following the fatal police shooting of a Black woman in her own home after she called 911 to report a suspected break-in in the capital city of Illinois.

Sangamon Co. Sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Sonya Massey early Saturday morning after the 36-year-old called the police for emergency help at her home in Springfield, WAND TV reported.

Sonya Massey, 36 years old, called the police because she thought someone was trying to break into her house.

They shot and killed her. https://t.co/EUEhNYbCvi pic.twitter.com/2L9B1RSTPh

— Courtney Enlow (@courtenlow) July 10, 2024

The police reported that there were shots fired about a half-hour after arriving at Massey’s home. Sangamon Co. Sheriff’s deputies reportedly rendered medical aid to Massey to no avail and she was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The county coroner said Massey’s official cause of death was a gunshot wound.

There were no reports of Massey being armed or exhibiting behavior that would justify killing someone who called the police for help.

The deputies involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave but were not identified.

It was unclear whether a suspected intruder was ever located.

But that is seemingly just about all the information that the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office and the Illinois State Police – the latter of which is investigating the shooting – are willing to make public in the shooting, leaving Massey’s family and neighbors demanding to know more.

Massey’s family has retained the legal services of renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who said the deputies shot Massey in the head. Crump called for immediate transparency from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office and condemned the shooting as excessive.

“It is extremely hard to imagine how a woman who calls the police out of fear of an intruder ends up shot in the head by the police at her own home,” Crump said in a statement that was sent to NewsOne. “We demand that all body camera footage from this incident be released immediately so that Sonya’s family and the public can see what happened in those thirty deadly minutes. No family should have to endure the pain and suffering that Sonya’s loved ones are experiencing right now.”

The Springfield community has been mourning Massey this week, including a meeting convened by a local alderman and a protest planned for Friday morning.

Committee of Whole chair Ald. Shawn Gregory begins Tuesday's meeting with a moment of silence for Sonya Massey, a Springfield woman who was killed in an officer-related shooting early Saturday. The shooting by @Sang_Sheriff Deputies is now being investigated by @ILStatePolice.

— Steven Spearie (@StevenSpearie) July 9, 2024

Community activist Tiara Standage echoed Crump’s sentiments.

“There’s no body cam footage, being released, there’s no information being released right now,” Standage, who lives near Masey’s home and is organizing Friday’s protest, told WAND TV. “So it just leads to speculation and I think that the Sangamon County Sheriff’s and the police department, they need to come forward with the information about what happened to Sonya Massey.”

Massey’s death marks the latest instance of police killing a Black person in their own home.

Most recently, a deputy in Florida shot and killed Senior Airman Roger Fortson after responding to what turned out to be a false report of an unspecified disturbance in his apartment. Fortson, 23, was shot in his own apartment on May 3 within seconds of opening his front door after Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Eddie Duran responded aggressively to a report of a domestic “disturbance” that a witness claims never existed at that location.

Less than a week after Fortson was killed, the initial shooting narrative provided by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office was definitively undermined by that witness – Fortson’s girlfriend – who said the police responded to the wrong apartment.

Bodycam video footage shows Duran banging loudly on an apartment door. When Fortson – possibly suspecting an intruder – answered the door while brandishing a legally owned gun that was facing down, Duran immediately opened fire and shot the young Airman six times.

It would be one full month before Duran was fired. However, as of Friday, there have been no criminal charges brought in the shooting.

Other notable cases of the police shooting and killing Black people in their own homes include Botham Jean, who died after an off-duty Dallas cop mistook his apartment for her’ and incorrectly suspected him as an intruder; Atatiana Jefferson, who was shot through her own bedroom window by a Fort Worth police officer who didn’t identify himself or give a warning; and Breonna Taylor, who was killed in a hail of bullets after police in Louisville executed a no-knock warrant in search of a suspect who was already in custody.

The officers who killed Jean and Jefferson were each subsequently charged with and convicted of murder. However, none of the police officers involved in Taylor’s death have been held accountable.

This is America.

SEE ALSO:

Woman Shot By Texas Cops In Friend’s Home Is ‘Reminiscent’ Of Breonna Taylor Shooting, Crump Says

RIP Ryan Gainer: Here’s Everything We Know About California Police Killing Autistic Black Teen

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