Sonya Massey’s Family Shocked After Deputy Who Killed Her Dies

The family of Sonya Massey, a Black woman fatally shot by a former Illinois sheriff’s deputy, said they were stunned to learn that the man convicted in her killing had died only months after beginning his prison term.

Sean Grayson, 32, was pronounced dead at around noon on Sunday, just six months into a 20-year sentence for second-degree murder in Massey’s death, attorney Daniel Fultz told NBC News.

Grayson had been diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2023, his defense attorney Mark Wykoff disclosed during his January sentencing hearing.

His lawyers later sought medical release, telling the Illinois Prisoner Review Board that the disease had advanced to Stage 4 and spread to his liver and lungs. The board denied that request last month.

Sontae Massey, Sonya Massey’s cousin, said her mother, son and daughter were having difficulty processing the news and initially questioned whether it was true, saying “they want to see his body.”

“None of us are OK,” he told TMZ, adding that the family had received little information about the disgraced former deputy since his trial last year and learned of his death online.

“This is not what justice looks like,” Sontae Massey said. “I don’t think any Black American can achieve true justice. I think we got as good as we could get.”

He added that, in his view, real accountability would have meant Grayson serving the full sentence “sick or not.”

Grayson had been convicted of second-degree murder in October and was handed the maximum 20-year sentence in January for the July 2024 killing. 

Still, Massey’s cousin said he should have been charged with first-degree murder for the fatal shooting on July 6, 2024.

Massey, a single mother, had called 911 early that morning because she believed a prowler was lurking outside her home.

Grayson and another Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy searched the property but found no intruder before entering the home to question her.

He then directed Massey to remove a pot of boiling water from the stove, telling her: ‘We don’t need a fire alarm here.’

As the other deputy stepped away from the pot, Massey told the officers: ‘I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.’

Grayson responded: ‘I’ll f***ing shoot you right in the f***ing face,’ and drew his gun.

Massey apologized and dropped to the floor, but Grayson moved toward her and fired three times.

MORE STORY: Bruce Forsyth’s Widow, Wilnelia, Opens Up About Her Experience with Dating

One bullet struck Massey in the head and killed her. 

Grayson later said he took the rebuke as a threat that she was about to toss the boiling water at him. 

But Massey’s cousin said the excuse was ‘insulting.’

‘He said what he was going to do and he did it,’ he noted, recounting how he had last spoken to his cousin just hours before her death.

At the time, he said Sonya called her uncle because she was afraid to be alone – and the family told her to make some tea before they took her to breakfast the next morning. 

That is why, Massey had a pot of hot water on the stove when Grayson and another sheriff’s deputy responded to the scene, her cousin explained. 

‘Sonya Massey’s death was unjustifiable and she should be alive today,’ Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, attorneys representing Massey’s family, said in a statement on Sunday. 

‘Sean Grayson’s death in custody from cancer does nothing to bring Sonya back,’ they noted. 

‘We wish his family prayers of peace, as we do for all who grieve a loved one,’ the lawyers continued.

‘Sonya’s family know that pain all to well and will grieve her loss the rest of their days.’ 

The shooting death triggered nationwide protests, a US Department of Justice review and renewed scrutiny of police hiring practices.

Sangamon County later agreed to pay her family $10 million to settle a wrongful-death claim.