An Illinois sheriff whose former deputy fatally shot Sonya Massey last month inside her Springfield home told CBS News Thursday that not only had the deputy received training, but he had specifically received extra training to learn how to avoid the use of unwarranted lethal force.
“This was a rogue individual that acted outside the scope of his authority,” Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said of his former Deputy Sean Grayson. “He’s been arrested, and he will pay the price.”
Campbell said that when he hired Grayson in May 2023, the new deputy received twice as much training as other recent hires. Campbell said he received workplace performance reviews from the law enforcement agencies where Grayson had previously worked, which noted that he needed more training. Grayson worked for six different law enforcement agencies in Illinois since 2020, including the Pawnee, Kincaid, Virden and Auburn police departments, as well as the Logan County Sheriff’s Office. He was also discharged from the Army in February 2016 after serving for about 19 months.
“He had all the training he needed,” Campbell said. “He just didn’t use it.”
Grayson is being held in the Menard County Jail after being charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the July 6 killing of Massey, a Black mother of two, who was shot in the head by the deputy inside her home after calling 911 to report a suspected prowler.
Bodycam video showed Grayson, who is White, shooting Campbell in her kitchen while she was holding a pot of hot water.
Massey’s mother, Donna Massey, had also called 911 the day before the shooting requesting help for her daughter, describing her as having a “mental breakdown,” and telling the dispatcher, “Please don’t send no combative policemen that are prejudiced, please. I’m scared of the police. Sometimes they make the situation worse.”
Grayson, who has since been fired by the sheriff’s office, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
CBS News has learned that Grayson had a history of disciplinary issues at other law enforcement agencies, including allegations he put false information in his police reports and once disobeyed a command to end a high-speed chase.
Campbell says the sheriff’s office didn’t have that information when Grayson was hired, but told CBS News that while he would have “rather had it,” he “can’t speculate” whether it would have changed his decision to hire Grayson.
“I don’t know,” said Campbell, regarding whether Grayson’s past had slipped through the cracks.
Grayson also pleaded guilty twice to driving under the influence of alcohol, in 2016 and 2017. However, Campbell said those DUIs were “not a red flag.”
“There was nothing in his past at all that would decertify him as an officer in Illinois,” Campbell said.
Scott Butterfield, a retired Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy and the father of Grayson’s girlfriend, wrote a glowing reference for Grayson before he was hired.
“I worked with Scott for 24 years, and it gives me some confidence that he would recommend somebody, but it’s not a pass to the front of the line,” Campbell said.
In a community meeting Monday, residents called for Campbell to resign. At least three Sangamon County board members have also called on Campbell to resign, and an online petition calling for him to step down has received more than 38,000 signatures.
“I was elected to run the same county sheriff’s office overwhelmingly twice,” Campbell told CBS News. “And that responsibility means in good times and bad.”
When asked what he and the sheriff’s office could have done better, Campbell responded, “I don’t think there’s much we could have done better.”
contributed to this report.
