Body cam footage captures US police shooting unarmed Black woman after 911 call, ignites nationwide fury

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - This still image taken from a police bodycam video released by the Illinois State Police on July 22, 2024, shows Sonya Massey reacting after a police officer draws his weapon before being shot and killed on July 6, 2024. — AFP pic/Illinois State Police

WASHINGTON, July 24 — New body camera footage released by police in Illinois shows officers shooting dead an unarmed Black woman in her home after she called for help over a possible intruder.

In the United States, where police shootings of minorities have become painfully common and polarising events, the killing has attracted national attention, with President Joe Biden saying Sonya Massey “should be alive today”.

At a news conference Tuesday, high-profile civil rights attorney Ben Crump called the shooting, in which one officer has been charged with murder, “senseless”, adding that the family has alleged police initially tried to downplay their responsibility.

Massey, 36, called 911 to report a possible intruder at her home and police arrived after midnight July 6, according to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.

In video footage released Monday, Massey is seen talking to two officers in her home, while they ask for ID and she searches through paperwork.

The sheriff’s deputies then ask her to check on a pot of boiling water on her stove, saying “we don’t need a fire while we’re here”.

When one of the deputies steps back, Massey asks why, and he responds with a laugh: “away from your hot steaming water”.

Holding the pot, Massey calmly responds “Oh, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus” — prompting a deputy to respond “You better f***ing not. I swear to God I’ll f***ing shoot you at your f***ing face,” drawing his weapon.

Apologising, Massey crouches behind a counter as officers scream “drop the fucking pot.” They then round the corner of the counter and open fire.

Afterward, one of the officers said they were afraid of “taking f***ing boiling water to the f***ing head.”

Harris to meet with family

Officer Sean Grayson, who is white, has been fired and charged with murder, with Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell issuing a statement to denounce his “unjustifiable and reckless decision”.

Biden on Monday called Massey “a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman”, while Crump said that Vice President Kamala Harris was set to speak with Massey’s family.

“Equal justice is paramount,” Crump told the news conference yesterday, saying that state authorities had promised a “fair and transparent investigation.”

But Crump said those promises come after the family alleged police originally tried to downplay their involvement in the shooting.

Police told family who arrived on the scene that “we know she was having problems with her neighbour, as to suggest that the neighbour might have done it,” Crump said.

Police shootings and brutality — especially instances of white on Black violence in a country with a long history of discrimination — often attract outrage and protests in the United States, as well as defences and pushback from ardent police supporters.

America’s decentralised policing system, where individual towns and counties are responsible for their own policing, means there are no national training requirements, which also makes reform extremely difficult.

Adding to complications, the United States is home to more guns than people, meaning police often train for violent encounters with the general public. — AFP