The former sheriff’s deputy charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey had been employed by six agencies since 2020, Illinois law enforcement records show. And he twice pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol before he began working in law enforcement, according to court records.
Sean Grayson was fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office last Wednesday, nearly two weeks after he shot and killed Massey in her home in Springfield, about 200 miles southwest of Chicago.
Massey, 36, had called 911 to report a suspected prowler. Grayson and another deputy, who has not been identified, responded just before 1 a.m. on July 6. Grayson shot her in the head within seconds of demanding she drop a pot of water after she told him, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” body camera video released Monday shows.
Massey was Black. Grayson is white. His employment history includes short stints as a part-time officer at three small police departments in Illinois and full-time employment at one police department and two sheriff’s offices. All of the agencies he worked for are in central Illinois.
NBC News has requested his personnel files from each agency, and has received responses from five so far. Records provided by four of those departments do not include any complaints or disciplinary action against Grayson.
He was, however, disciplined by the Logan County Sheriff’s Office after hitting a deer with his squad car during a chase that violated department policy. Grayson worked for Logan County immediately before joining Sangamon County. His personnel record from the agency also shows that two people filed complaints against him. A woman accused him of “inappropriate” behavior during her arrest and her fiance, who was an inmate at Logan County Jail, accused him of “abusing his power” and harassment when Grayson questioned the man in jail after the woman’s arrest. Grayson refuted the allegations in both complaints. They are both marked as “unfounded” in his file. His report said he left the sheriff’s office in “good standing.”
Before Logan County, Grayson worked part time at the Pawnee, Kincaid and Virden police departments, state records show, with his employment at Pawnee overlapping at times with both Kincaid and Virden. He worked full time at the Auburn Police Department.
DJ Mathon, the chief of the Kincaid Police Department, said Grayson worked there part time from Feb. 4 to May 18, 2021, and was let go by the Village of Kincaid Board when he refused to live within a 10-mile radius of the village. He maintained his employment at Pawnee, where he was hired in August 2020, during the entirety of his time at Kincaid and had asked for permission to take on the second job, records show. Mathon said the department did not have any written complaints against Grayson and no disciplinary actions were taken against him.
Grayson was hired by the Virden Police Department shortly after leaving Kincaid, and while he was still working at Pawnee, at a rate of $17.50 per hour, records obtained by NBC News show. He worked there part time for several months. The police department employs nine officers.
The department said Grayson’s reason for leaving is unknown because it did not receive a resignation from him. An official from the department said that “he just stopped covering shifts.” His separation date was Dec. 31, 2021, though records show that he began working in Auburn months before. He wrote in the application for Auburn that he was leaving Virden because he wanted to be a full-time officer.
Grayson worked full time at the Auburn Police Department from July 2021 to May 2022, and then at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office for a little less than a year, before joining the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.
In his letter of resignation from the Auburn Police Department, Grayson wrote that he “had nothing but a positive experience working as an officer.”
“I appreciate the opportunity you presented to me and I am sincerely grateful for everything you and this department has done for me,” he wrote. “I will take everything I have learned from you and this department and continue to learn and grow.”
Grayson received his part-time Law Enforcement Certification on June 5, 2021, according to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. His certification status reads as suspended on the board’s website.
Before he worked in law enforcement, Grayson had been a wheeled vehicle mechanic in the U.S. Army from May 2014 to February 2016, Army spokesman Bryce Dubee said.
“He had no deployments and left the Army in the rank of private first class,” Dubee said in a statement.
Court records show Grayson twice pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, in 2015 and in 2016. The 2015 arrest occurred during his enlistment. His past DUI arrests were disclosed in his application to the Auburn Police Department, records show. He also noted in that application that he at some point had had his license revoked or suspended.
Body camera footage shows that Grayson declined to render aid as Massey lay dying and had discouraged his partner from trying to save her.
“The other deputy still rendered aid and stayed with Ms. Massey until medical help arrived,” a prosecutor wrote in court documents, adding that Grayson “at no time attempted to render aid to Ms. Massey.”
Grayson, 30, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct charges. He is being detained without bond.
Last week, after the Illinois State Police concluded its investigation into the shooting, as required by state law, the sheriff’s office said Grayson was fired because the investigation had made it clear that he “did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards.”
Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser said a review of the state police’s investigation, including the body-worn camera footage, “does not support a finding that Deputy Sean Grayson was justified in his use of deadly force.”
The fatal shooting has drawn comments from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Justice Department said it “is aware of and assessing the circumstances” surrounding it. The Justice Department said it “will continue to track the criminal case opened by the Sangamon County State’s Attorney.”
