Sonya Massey called the police for help. The attending officer shot her in the face.

Contains distressing content. 

Sonya Massey, a beloved mother, friend, daughter, and young Black woman, should be alive today.

The 36-year-old mum of two woke to noises near her residence in Springfield, Illinois, on July 6. She called 911 for help, believing there were prowlers or intruders nearby.

Around midnight, two County sheriff deputies responded to the call. They arrived at her residence, searched the area and then knocked on Sonya's door to speak with her. Officers followed her inside her home, and watched as she searched for her identification.

Body cam footage captured from the encounter shows us exactly what happened next.

As Sonya appears to be having difficulty answering the police officers' questions, they ask her, "Are you doing alright mentally?"

She replies: "Yes, I took my medicine."

According to reports, Sonya had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Court documents confirmed that Sonya was "calm, possibly unwell, and non-aggressive" on the night in question.

As shown in the footage, one of the officers — deputy Sean Grayson — sees a pot sitting on a lit stove in Sonya's home, and gestures towards it saying: "We don't need a fire while we're here."

He instructs Sonya to remove the pot of boiling water from the stove. She walks into the kitchen and begins to remove it, planning to pour the water down the sink. The officers then back away. At the point where Sonya was moving towards the sink to pour the boiling water into, she would have been over a metre away from the officers. 

In the video, Sonya asks the officers: "Where you going?" To which Grayson replies: "Away from your hot steaming water."

Sonya responds: "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus," at which point Grayson unholsters his gun.

"You better f**king not. I swear to God I'll f**king shoot you right in your f**king face," Grayson warns.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Sonya is heard saying twice before she ducks and cowers.

Grayson then closes the distance between himself and Sonya and fires three shots to her face. After shooting Sonya, Grayson attempts to dissuade his partner from tending to her.

Watch: Sonya Masey's family's attorneys speak to the hurt felt in the Black community. Post continues below.

"What else do we do? I'm not taking hot f**king boiling water to the f**king face. She's done. You can go get it [medical help], but that's a head shot."

Grayson later reiterates to other officers when they arrive on the scene: "Yeah I'm good, this f**king b*tch is crazy. She had boiling water and came at me with boiling water. She said she was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus and came at [me] with boiling water."

Sonya died from her injuries.

When her loved ones arrived at the hospital after she had been pronounced dead, they say police continued to give conflicting versions of events.

"Just confirmed: self-inflicted?" a police dispatcher asked.

"Self-inflicted," someone at the scene replied, as per body cam audio.

Grayson did not activate his body camera until after he shot Sonya, whereas his partner had activated his body camera when he first arrived at the scene. It was this body cam footage that confirmed what had happened to Sonya.

Only after a doctor said Sonya's death was a homicide did law enforcement begin classifying it as a police killing, the family said. 

On July 20, 30-year-old Grayson was charged with first-degree murder and one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He has entered a not guilty plea.

Days later, the body cam footage was released by the police. What followed was swift condemnation from a large portion of Americans and civil rights activists. 

Grayson has since been fired from the sheriff's office. They said in a statement: "It is clear that the deputy did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards."

Sonya's loved ones have been tirelessly campaigning and calling for justice. In a press conference this week, the family said police initially told them she had either taken her own life or was killed by an intruder.

Sonya Massey and former deputy sheriff Sean Grayson on the night of the alleged murder as shown per body cam footage. Image: AAP.

"They tried to make me believe that a neighbour had did it," said Jimmie Crawford Jr, Massey's former partner and the father of one of her children.

Crawford also claimed that police told nurses at the hospital that Sonya had taken her own life.

Her father said she was "a Daddy's girl" who never ended their conversations without saying, "Daddy, I love you".

"That's the last message I have from my daughter that's saved on my voicemail, was 'Daddy, I love you.'"

Benjamin Crump is a renowned American attorney who specialises in civil rights and catastrophic personal injury cases such as wrongful death suits. He led George Floyd's family's legal team — and he is now also representing the Massey family. 

Speaking about the case, Crump said on Laura Coates Live: "It's so senseless. I mean, it is disturbing. Sonya Massey needed a helping hand. She did not need a bullet to the face. We cannot continue to shoot first and ask questions later when it's Black people."

He continued: "This video is reminiscent in the last presidential cycle in 2020 when the George Floyd video, you know, encouraged our community to act. And in this 2024 election I believe this Sonya Massey video is going to encourage our community to act — because Sonya Massey deserved better than this."

US President Joe Biden has since weighed in on the case, saying her family "deserve justice".

"Sonya called the police because she was concerned about a potential intruder. When we call for help, all of us as Americans — regardless of who we are or where we live — should be able to do so without fearing for our lives. Sonya's death at the hands of a responding officer reminds us that all too often Black Americans face fears for their safety in ways many of the rest of us do not," he said in a statement.

"I am heartbroken for her children and her entire family as they face this unthinkable and senseless loss."

He commended the actions taken by the Springfield State's Attorney's office, and urged Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act swiftly.

Vice-President and President hopeful Kamala Harris also called on Congress to pass police reforms, saying Sonya's killing and the body cam footage released is "disturbing".

Sonya's funeral will be held Friday morning US time, according to Crump's office.

Feature Image: AAP.