Autopsy: Massey killed by gunshot wound to head | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois – Autopsy results released Friday on Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old black woman who was shot to death in her Illinois home by a now-fired deputy sheriff charged with her death, confirm she died of a gunshot wound to the head.

The report was released shortly before civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Massey’s family, condemned the killing by former deputy Sean Grayson as senseless, unnecessary and excessive.

Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon had previously announced initial findings in Massey’s July 6 death in Springfield, and the full autopsy report released Friday confirmed those conclusions, including determining that her death was a homicide.

In addition to the bullet that struck her just below her left eye, Massey suffered “mild blunt force injuries” to her right leg, the autopsy said.

Grayson, who is white, has pleaded innocent to first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a firearm and abuse of office in connection with Massey’s killing. He was released from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office last week and is being held without bail.

Crump, who held his third news conference this week since the bodycam video was released on Monday, showed a zoomed-in diagram of the autopsy that showed the bullet exited her lower neck in a downward trajectory. That, he said, underscores the physical discrepancy between Massey and the much larger Grayson, who shot her because he felt threatened by a pot of hot water she was taking from her stove.

“As Sonya Massey was staring down the muzzle of his gun, she bent down and said, ‘Excuse me, sir, excuse me,’ and the bullet was fired while she was in that crouched position and straightened back up,” Crump said. “The autopsy confirms what everyone already knows, which is that this was simply a senseless, unnecessary and excessive use of force.”

Grayson is 6’3″ tall and weighs 230 pounds. The autopsy states Massey is 5’4″ tall and weighs 110 pounds. Prosecutors added that the distance between the shooter and victim and a counter between them gave Grayson “distance and relative protection” from the hot water.

Authorities said Massey called 911 to report a suspected burglar and two officers eventually showed up at her home in Springfield, about 200 miles southwest of Chicago.

The video confirmed the prosecution’s earlier account of the tense moment when Grayson yelled across a counter at Massey to put down a pot of hot water while pointing his 9mm pistol at her and threatening to shoot her in the face. He fired three times.

The unidentified deputy who was with Grayson then said he was going to get his first aid kit, but Grayson said, “She’s done. You can get it, but that’s a shot to the head. There’s nothing you can do, man.”

He later relented while the second deputy held towels to Massey’s head to stop the bleeding. But when Grayson returned with his kit, paramedics had already arrived. When Grayson was told his help was not needed, he threw his kit on the ground and said, “Then I’m not going to waste my medical supplies.”

Massey suffered from mental health issues, according to her family. Her son, 17-year-old Malachi Hill Massey, said Friday that he and his 15-year-old sister moved in with their fathers because Sonya Massey checked herself into an inpatient program in St. Louis for 30 days sometime in the week before her death, but returned two days later with no explanation.

Malachi Massey also said that on July 5, the day before the early morning shooting, police officers he believed to be from Sangamon County were called to the house and were there when he arrived. By that point, his mother had already called him and told him she was driving herself to a local hospital, apparently for mental health treatment. He said he did not know who called police or what help she was seeking that day.

The Associated Press has asked local law enforcement for recordings of the July 5 call.