Lawmakers in Washington decried the killing of Sonya Massey, an unarmed Black woman who was shot in her house earlier this month by an Illinois police officer after she called 911 to report a prowler.<\/p>\n
Vice President Harris, likely to be the Democratic presidential nominee, said in a statement Tuesday that Massey \u201cdeserved to be safe,\u201d and that the police officers who responded to her call had failed her. Massey was shot by former Sangamon County sheriff\u2019s deputy Sean Grayson as he responded to her 911 call.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter she called the police for help, she was tragically killed in her own home at the hands of a responding officer sworn to protect and serve,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n
Harris was reacting to body-camera footage released Tuesday by prosecutors in the case. The footage shows Grayson and another unnamed officer inspecting the property around Massey\u2019s house early on July 6. While the inspection was followed by 18 minutes of a relatively normal interaction with her, Massey\u2019s emergency call turned deadly within 10 after Grayson pulled his weapon, ordered Massey to drop a pot of hot water and then fatally shot her in the face.<\/p>\n
Last week, Grayson was indicted on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct after a weeks-long investigation by the Illinois State Police and the Sangamon County State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office. At prosecutors\u2019 urging, Circuit Judge Ryan Cadagin denied Grayson bond and ordered that he be jailed, and records show he\u2019s at the Menard County Detention Facility.<\/p>\n
Grayson, who was fired Thursday after his indictment, faces life in prison if convicted on the murder charge. His attorney, Dan Fultz, declined to comment on the case on Monday.<\/p>\n
In her statement, Harris said the \u201cdisturbing footage released yesterday confirms what we know from the lived experiences of so many \u2014 we have much work to do to ensure that our justice system fully lives up to its name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI join President Biden in commending the swift action of the State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office and in calling on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill that I co-authored in the Senate,\u201d Harris said. \u201cIn this moment, in honor of Sonya\u2019s memory and the memory of so many more whose names we may never know, we must come together to achieve meaningful reforms that advance the safety of all communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday, President Biden said in a statement that Massey \u2014 whom he described \u201ca beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman\u201d \u2014 \u201cshould be alive today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSonya called the police because she was concerned about a potential intruder,\u201d Biden said in his statement. \u201cWhen we call for help, all of us as Americans \u2014 regardless of who we are or where we live \u2014 should be able to do so without fearing for our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden added that Massey\u2019s death \u201cat the hands of a responding officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president commended the actions taken by the Springfield State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s office to investigate the case and, like Harris, called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. In 2021, Congress failed to pass the act, which was introduced after Floyd\u2019s death in May 2020, over party disagreements.<\/p>\n
Illinois Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Dick Durbin, both Democrats, also condemned the shooting in statements.<\/p>\n
\u201cSonya Massey feared for her safety and trusted law enforcement to protect her \u2014 and that trust never should have cost Sonya her life,\u201d Duckworth said. \u201cThis sort of tragedy at the hands of law enforcement is all too common for Black Americans, and it is completely unacceptable and unjustifiable. While it will not bring Sonya back, state authorities bringing appropriate charges in this case was the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The body-camera footage, Durbin said, \u201cis disturbing & unconscionable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy thoughts continue to be with Sonya Massey\u2019s children, family, & loved ones as they relive these horrible moments,\u201d Durbin said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Lawmakers in Washington decried the killing of Sonya Massey, an unarmed Black woman who was shot in her house earlier this month by an Illinois police officer after she called 911 to report a prowler. Vice President Harris, likely to be the Democratic presidential nominee, said in a statement Tuesday that Massey \u201cdeserved to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}