The white sheriff's deputy who killed an unarmed black mother, Sonia Massey, in her kitchen after she reported him for suspected wandering once had to take a “class in stressful decision-making.”
According to a CNN report, Shawn Grayson, 30, was served with a warning from the Logan County Sheriff's Office in Illinois after he failed to slow down when a deputy called off a vehicle pursuit.
According to sheriff's office records, the man struck a deer while driving at about 110 mph on July 6, several years before he shot and killed his 36-year-old mother over a pot of boiling water in their kitchen.
“Deputy Grayson pursued the truck through Lincoln at speeds of 63/30 mph and, in my opinion, did not use due caution when passing through a stop intersection,” the chief deputy wrote at the time.
The report states Grayson's supervisor “called off the pursuit” and Grayson turned off the emergency lights.
He then “continued traveling at a high rate of speed (70-85 mph) until striking the deer,” the report said.
“Deputy Grayson acknowledged his lack of experience,” the report states.
It goes on to list a series of recommendations, including “additional traffic stop training, report writing training, high-stress decision-making classes and the need to read, understand and discuss published Logan County Sheriff's Office policies.”
It's unclear whether Grayson implemented those recommendations.
He resigned from the Logan County Sheriff's Office in April 2023 and joined the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office the following month, where he shot Massey in the face.
Massey, 36, who has mental illness, called police to her Springfield, Illinois, home in the early morning hours of July 6 to report a person wandering in the area. Two Sangamon County sheriff's deputies responded to the call.
After searching the area for 30 minutes without finding the suspect, the pair went into Massey's home and spoke with her.
They then discovered a pot of boiling water on the stove and Grayson demanded that she turn the heat off and threatened to shoot.
Body camera footage shows the young woman bowing and apologizing as the officer fires three times.
An autopsy revealed Massey was shot in the face below the left eye, causing a fractured skull and a punctured carotid artery.
This caused her brain to bleed before the bullet exited through the back of her upper neck.
Massey also suffered minor blunt force injuries to his right leg, according to the coroner.
Grayson has since He was removed from the police force and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey's death.
The former deputy sheriff, who lost his job over the shooting, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is currently being held in the county jail while awaiting trial.
But this isn't the first time Grayson has misconducted while on the job: His discharge from the Army was listed as a “misconduct (felony),” according to documents obtained by ABC News.
The Army declined to release further information about Grayson's discharge, citing privacy laws and Defense Department policy that prohibit it from releasing information about the conduct of lower-ranking personnel.
Grayson served in the Army as a vehicle mechanic from May 2014 to February 2016, retiring with the rank of private first class, a spokesman told ABC News.
He was charged with drunk driving in Illinois in August 2015 while in the military, and then again in the same county shortly after his discharge in July 2016, according to ABC News.
Records show he paid thousands of dollars in fines for his misconduct and his car was impounded after the 2015 incident.
Grayson has moved between police departments, serving in six different departments over a four-year period.
His first job as a police officer was with the Pawnee Police Department, where he worked part-time from August 2020 to July 2021, according to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board (ILETSB).
He also worked at the Kinkaid Police Department from February 2021 to May 2021 and the Virden Police Department from May 2021 to December 2021. Both were part-time positions.
Grayson will hold a full-time position with the Auburn Police Department from July 2021 to May 2022 and a full-time position with the Logan County Sheriff's Office from May 2022 to April 2023.
He will begin work in Sangamon County in May 2023, according to the ILETSB.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Massey's family, questioned why Grayson was “with the sheriff's office in the first place.”
In a statement announcing Grayson's firing, Logan County Sheriff Jack Campbell said, “It is clear that the deputy did not act in accordance with his training and failed to adhere to departmental standards.”
In a follow-up statement on July 22, the sheriff wrote, “Grayson had other options and should have taken advantage of them. His actions were unacceptable and do not reflect the values or training of our agency. He will now face justice through the criminal justice system and will never work in law enforcement again.”
“Ms Massey lost her life needlessly. Her family deserves an explanation, and we believe the legal process will provide that.”
