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Illinois governor calls on Sangamon County sheriff to resign after Sonya Massey shooting – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

(CNN) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called on Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell to resign Wednesday over his handling of the officer-involved shooting of Sonya Massey. Campbell called the request “political maneuvering during a tragic event.”

“We join the Massey family in calling for Sheriff Campbell to resign immediately so that the Springfield and Sangamon County communities can begin to rebuild trust between the citizens and the sheriff’s department,” Pritzker and Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton said in a joint statement.

On July 6, former Deputy Sean Grayson responded to a report of a burglar at Massey’s home. Body camera footage from another deputy showed Massey berating Grayson and the former deputy threatening the 36-year-old black woman. Grayson asked Massey to get a pot of water off the stove. Grayson moved away from the steaming water.

“Sonya turned toward me, holding the pot. I did not know what kind of boiling liquid was,” Grayson wrote in his report three days after the incident.

“I advised Sonya to put down the boiling liquid. Sonya said she would rebuke me in the name of Jesus. She said it twice. I took it to mean she would kill me.”

The encounter ended with Grayson shooting Massey in the head and not providing aid. Massey’s family said Sonya Massey struggled with mental health issues.

Grayson, a 30-year-old deputy who has since been fired, was indicted by a grand jury on July 17 on three counts of first-degree murder and one count each of aggravated assault with a firearm and official misconduct in connection with the shooting. Grayson pleaded not guilty and was denied pretrial release, according to court records.

The sheriff’s office has come under scrutiny after it was revealed that Grayson was discharged from the military for serious misconduct and a history of drunk driving, yet he still managed to get jobs at six law enforcement agencies in Illinois since 2020. Employment records show he works part-time as an officer at three of them.

“It has been exactly one month since Sonya Massey’s murder. In that time, Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell has had ample opportunity to answer questions with conviction and determination about the perpetrator, his hiring of Deputy Sean Grayson, and the reforms he would recommend to his department to prevent this from happening again,” Pritzker and Stratton said.

“The community fears that calling the Sheriff’s Office when they feel threatened will lead to another innocent resident being killed,” Pritzker and Stratton said.

Campbell said in a statement that his office “continues to mourn Sonya Massey and her family” and that officers in his office “feel betrayed by one of their own.”

“The Sheriff’s Office is willing to change our hiring practices to prevent an incident like this from happening again. However, it is important to identify the problem before changes can be made,” the statement said.

“The calls for his resignation are nothing more than political maneuvering during a tragic event and only hurt the good citizens of Sangamon County. I was overwhelmingly elected to lead the Sheriff’s Office through good times and bad,” Campbell said.

Pritzker and Stratton also criticized Campbell for not meeting with Massey’s family, saying, “It is inexcusable that one of your Sheriff’s Deputies would refuse to meet face to face with a grieving family at a time when he killed their innocent mother, sister and daughter.”

Campbell said in a statement that four requests to speak with the family were “rejected or denied.”

“I am still ready to meet with the family,” the sheriff said.

CNN has reached out to the Massey family’s attorney for comment.

MP ‘needed more training’
Campbell said no law enforcement agencies had reported any problems with Grayson prior to his hiring in Sangamon County, but previous employers had noted he “needed more training.” Grayson received 16 weeks of academy training, according to Campbell.

The sheriff noted that Grayson’s personnel file included “references from people I know well,” adding, “This information is invaluable in making informed hiring decisions.”

According to a Department of Defense document in Grayson’s personnel file from his time at the Kincaid Police Department in Illinois, the former deputy was discharged from the U.S. Army in 2016 for “inappropriate conduct (serious crime).” The personnel file was obtained by CNN affiliate KSHB.

Grayson was charged with two DUI charges in Macoupin County, Illinois, court records show, one in 2015 and the other in 2016.

The former deputy pleaded guilty to DUI charges when he applied to become an officer with the Auburn Police Department in Illinois in 2021. He worked there from July 2021 to May 2022. CNN’s review of Grayson’s records there did not reveal any major problems or disciplinary issues.

Records show Grayson started working for the Logan County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois in May 2022. He wrote a short letter to the sheriff detailing his “terrible decision to drink and drive.”

Grayson’s letter also notes that he lost his license for a year after pleading guilty to a second DUI in 2016.

Campbell said a background check was conducted before Grayson was hired in Sangamon County. Prior DUI convictions are “not disqualifying criteria for a deputy,” Campbell said.

Grayson does not appear to have had any disciplinary issues as an Auburn officer, but Logan County Sheriff’s Office records suggest he take “high-stress decision-making classes.” The records say Grayson failed to slow down after his boss called off a vehicle pursuit. Grayson was traveling at about 110 mph before hitting a deer, records show.

The Logan County chief deputy wrote that Grayson “failed to exercise due caution when negotiating stop intersections.” Grayson’s supervisor “terminated the pursuit” and the deputy turned off his emergency lights, the report said. But Grayson “continued at a high rate of speed (110/55 mph zone) before striking the deer.”

Audio recordings apparently timed to coincide with Logan County’s internal review of the incident show the chief deputy scolding Grayson for misrepresenting the incident in his report, despite prior orders to fact-check it.

A spokesman for the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office said they had not received a comprehensive disciplinary report from Logan County regarding Grayson, including the warning he received for his false reporting of a traffic accident.

Logan County Sheriff Mark Landers told CNN that his office “has not received any formal or informal written requests for Sean Grayson’s personnel file and/or any disciplinary reports regarding Sean Grayson.”

“Furthermore, no member of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office spoke to any member of my command staff about this matter prior to Sean Grayson’s departure from our employment,” Landers said.

Grayson’s attorney, Daniel Fultz, declined to comment.

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