Family Says Police Tried to Cover Up Sonya Massey's Killing

Sonya Massey's family says police initially attempted to cover up the Illinois woman's death and pass it off as self-inflicted, when it was actually a sheriff's deputy who fatally shot her after she called police to her home on July 6. In police audio obtained by the Guardian, someone on the scene can be heard telling a dispatcher the gunshot wound was "self-inflicted." Asked to confirm that, the person repeats, "Self-inflicted." Massey's family says law enforcement told nurses at the hospital the same thing, and that the family was told it was a "neighbor" who shot Massey. Some of her family members didn't learn the truth until news reports about the shooting came out.

The family gave a press conference Tuesday, the day after bodycam video of the shooting was released. According to Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney representing the family, the Department of Justice is launching an investigation into the shooting, which has been decried by officials from the local level all the way up to President Biden, USA Today reports. Sean Grayson, the 30-year-old who allegedly fired the fatal shot was fired by the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office after his arrest, ABC 7 reports; he has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery, and official misconduct. Records show he had worked at six different law enforcement agencies over the past four years and was arrested for alleged DUIs in 2015 and 2016; Massey's father says he doesn't understand why the sheriff's office hired him. (More Sonya Massey stories.)