Former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean P. Grayson had a documented history of violence and aggression toward women that his superiors ignored when hiring him before he killed Sonya Massey.
Bodycam footage shows fatal shots fired at Sonya Massey
Police bodycam footage captured the moments of the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey in the Springfield, Illinois area.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Multiple complaints of violent behavior toward women have been filed against the deputy accused of fatally shooting Sonya Massey in the face, according to a USA TODAY review of public records.
Despite the complaints, Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean P. Grayson was never banned from law enforcement and moved from one police agency to another, records show, raising questions about how he ended up in the job he held when Massey was shot.
Massey’s killing on July 6 sparked nationwide outrage over police brutality, demonstrations from coast to coast and a federal investigation by the Justice Department.
The sheriff’s department’s hiring practices have also been criticized by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Earlier this week, he formally called for the resignation of Sangamon Sheriff Jack Campbell, expressing frustration with the sheriff’s response to Massey’s death. Amid mounting pressure and questions about Grayson’s hiring, Campbell said Friday he would resign and retire.
Following Massey’s murder, Springfield city leaders are calling for an audit of the agency’s hiring practices.
Springfield Board member Kevin McGuire called for an outside investigative team to look into the sheriff’s department’s hiring practices. “I would say that is paramount,” McGuire said.
Among the complaints against Grayson in Illinois is the allegation of a former Logan County Jail inmate who wrote in a December 2022 official complaint that Grayson ordered her to expose herself to him.
“I felt very violated,” said Chelsey Lowe, an inmate who confronted Grayson during a drug investigation. Grayson denied the allegation and resigned from his position at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office before the complaint was formally investigated.
When investigators did not pursue the complaint, Grayson joined the Sangamon Sheriff’s Office in May 2023, where he was employed when he went to Massey’s home last month and shot the 36-year-old mother of two in her kitchen. He now faces three counts of first-degree murder and has been fired.
The former deputy was also accused by his ex-wife in their divorce proceedings of “repeated emotional abuse.” Another citizen complaint against Grayson in May alleged that he attempted to unlawfully intimidate a 17-year-old girl when he attempted to enter a home without a search warrant, yelling at her and threatening to “handcuff” her if she didn’t let him in. One of Grayson’s colleagues did not sustain the complaint.
USA TODAY’s review of public records about Grayson’s years in the police force and his personal life comes amid nationwide outrage and calls for police reform surrounding the July 6 killing of the Black woman.
Grayson’s criminal record also shows that he has been convicted twice of drunk driving and a questionable discharge from military service.
The sheriff’s office and an attorney for Grayson did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story.
“I am very scared”
According to Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board records, Grayson worked as a deputy sheriff in Logan County, north of Springfield, from May 2022 to the end of April 2023.
His duties also included working at the Logan County Jail, where in December 2022 an inmate filed a complaint accusing Grayson of “very inappropriate” behavior, according to a county disciplinary file made available through a public records request.
Lowe wrote in her complaint form to the Logan County Sheriff’s Department that she told officers during her arrest that she had hidden drugs in her vagina.
Grayson ordered her to put the drugs away in front of him, the indictment says.
“I wanted to do what he told me to do, but I was very afraid and felt compelled to do this,” she wrote.
At the urging of a policewoman, she stopped and was taken to a doctor to remove the drugs.
“As I lay completely naked in the hospital bed, Officer Grayson pulled back the curtain and exposed me to him and, I believe, two other male officers,” Lowe wrote.
“I felt very hurt on both occasions and was unsure how to deal with it,” she said.
Lowe could not be reached for comment.
Divorce due to “extreme and repeated acts of psychological cruelty”
In June 2015, Grayson’s wife, Alexia Grayson, now Alexia Kay Pitchford, filed for divorce in the Circuit Court of Macoupin County, the same county where Grayson grew up and briefly worked as a police officer for seven months in 2021.
Pitchford justified his intentions to divorce by arguing that “the defendant is guilty of extreme and repeated acts of psychological cruelty without cause or provocation.” Pitchford and Pitchford’s mother did not respond to requests for comment on the nature of the cruelty mentioned in the divorce papers.
According to court documents, the two had no children together. The judge granted Grayson’s wife the right to revert to her former name, Pitchford.
According to Macoupin County court records, Grayson was convicted of the first of two DUI counts two months later in August. He was arrested for his second time in July 2016.
Conduct as a representative of Sangamon County
The most recent complaint against Grayson’s conduct as a deputy came in May, less than two months before he shot Massey in her kitchen, according to his personnel file with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.
Grayson was the only officer named in the complaint, which describes a group of officers attempting to enter a residence without a warrant.
“We were not given any details about what was going on or why they were asking/demanding to be let in,” said the man who filed the complaint. He and a 17-year-old girl answered the door when officers arrived.
According to the complaint, Grayson “began yelling at the teenager” to let her in.
“Officer Grayson then falsely accused her of lying and obstructing an investigation. He then threatened to handcuff her and send her to jail if she did not let them into the house.”
The complainant wrote that Grayson did not direct his comments at him, but directly at the teenager.
“It is 100% unlawful to threaten detention and arrest for refusing officers access to one’s home without a warrant,” the plaintiff wrote. “More specifically, to assault a 17-year-old girl and fail to contact adult guardians or parents of any kind. When Officer Grayson demanded to be let in, he spoke to the young girl in an inappropriate manner… and attempted to intimidate her.”
Lieutenant Wes Wooden of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office conducted an informal review of the complaint and concluded that his colleague’s actions were justified and the complaint was not sustained, county records show.
Wooden is the same county officer who led the investigation into Grayson’s past when he was first hired by the Sangamon Sheriff’s Office. The office did not respond to requests from Wooden for comment.
Complaints against police officers are usually investigated by other officers and rarely sustained, says Samuel Sinyangwe, executive director of Mapping Police Violence, a nonprofit that collects police data. It’s not unusual for an officer who has 20 or 30 complaints against him to stay on the force, Sinyangwe says.
Massey Shooting
Two months later, Grayson and another officer arrived at Massey’s home after the 36-year-old woman called 911 about a possible intruder.
Massey’s cry for help in the early hours of July 6 brought together the petite woman and the 6-foot-4 police officer with a history of violence against women.
Body-worn camera footage of the encounter released on July 22 shows that the burly son of a Navy Seal had little patience with the petite woman from the start.
“Are you coming to the door or not?” Grayson yells, banging on the door. “Hurry up.”
In Massey’s kitchen, Grayson told her to take a pot of boiling water off the stove.
She picked up the pot and said the words that Grayson said made him fear for his life: “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Grayson dropped his hand to his gun and yelled back, “You better not fucking do that or I swear to God I’ll shoot you right in the fucking face,” according to a transcript of the encounter.
Grayson drew his gun, Massey apologized, then ducked. Grayson walked toward her and fired three times, hitting her in the head.
