New body camera footage released by Illinois police shows officers shooting and killing an unarmed Black woman in her home after she asked for aid about a possible intruder.
In the United States, where police shootings of minorities have become excruciatingly routine and divisive events, the killing has sparked global outrage, with President Joe Biden stating that Sonya Massey “should be alive today.”
At a news conference Tuesday, high-profile civil rights attorney Ben Crump described the incident, in which one officer was charged with murder, as “senseless,” adding that the family claims police originally tried to downplay their culpability.
Massey, 36, called 911 to report a probable intruder at her home, and officers responded after midnight on July 6, according to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s deputies then ask her to check on a pot of boiling water on her stove, saying, “We don’t need a fire while we’re here.”
When one of the deputies steps back, Massey asks why, and he responds with a laugh, “Away from your hot steaming water.”
Holding the pot, Massey calmly responds, “Oh, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” prompting a deputy to respond, “You better not. I swear to God I’ll shoot you in your face,” drawing his weapon.
Apologising, Massey crouches behind a counter as officers scream, “Drop the pot.” They then round the corner of the counter and open fire.
Afterwards, one of the officers said they were afraid of “taking boiling water to the head.”
– Harris to meet with family –
Officer Sean Grayson, who is white, has been dismissed and charged with murder, with Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell issuing a statement to denounce his “unjustifiable and reckless decision.”
Biden on Monday called Massey “a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman,” while Crump said that Vice President Kamala Harris was set to speak with Massey’s family.
“Equal justice is paramount,” Crump told the news conference on Tuesday, saying that state authorities had promised a “fair and transparent investigation.”
But Crump said those promises come after the family alleged police originally tried to downplay their involvement in the shooting.
Police told the family who arrived on the scene that “we know she was having problems with her neighbour,” as to suggest that the neighbour might have done it, Crump said.
Police shootings and brutality — especially instances of white-on-Black violence in a country with a long history of discrimination — often attract outrage and protests in the United States, as well as defences and pushback from ardent police supporters.
America’s decentralised policing system, where individual towns and counties are responsible for their own policing, means there are no national training requirements, which also makes reform extremely difficult.
Adding to complications, the United States is home to more guns than people, meaning police often train for violent encounters with the general public.