Kamala Harris added her voice on Tuesday to mounting calls for policing reforms following the killing of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman who was shot in her home by an Illinois sheriff’s deputy earlier this month.
“Sonya Massey deserved to be safe,” the vice-president said in a statement Tuesday. “After she called the police for help, she was tragically killed in her own home at the hands of a responding officer sworn to protect and serve.”
Harris, who is all but certain to lead Democrats into November’s presidential election, said she and her husband, prospective first gentleman Doug Emhoff, “send strength and prayers to Sonya’s family and friends, and we join them in grieving her senseless death”.
Harris also said that their thoughts were with “communities across our nation whose calls for help are often met with suspicion, distrust and even violence”.
On Monday, a 36-minute police body-camera video of the fatal shooting was publicly released. It showed two Sangamon county sheriff’s deputies responding to Massey’s home after midnight on 6 July after she called 911 to report a possible “prowler” at her home in Springfield.
Once inside the home, Sean Grayson, a deputy who has since been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, and another deputy spoke with Massey. Spotting a pot of boiling water on Massey’s stove, Grayson ordered her to remove it. But when Massey moved toward the stove, the interaction quickly escalated.
As deputies backed away from Massey, she asked: “Where are you going?” to which one of the deputies replied: “Away from your hot steaming water.” Massey, who has been identified as a paranoid-schizophrenic by her daughter, then said: “Away from the hot steaming water? Oh, I’ll rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” Grayson is heard responding: “You better fucking not or I swear to God I’ll fucking shoot you in the f**king face.”
He then draws his firearm and points it at her, as Massey ducks with her hands up and says: “I’m sorry,” the video shows. “Drop the fucking pot!” both deputies yell, before Grayson fires three shots. One deputy says “shots fired” and calls for emergency medical services.
“Nah, head shot dude, she’s done,” Grayson is heard saying. He has been fired and is currently being held without bond.
In her statement, Harris said that “the disturbing footage released yesterday confirms what we know from the lived experiences of so many – we have much work to do to ensure that our justice system fully lives up to its name.”
On Monday, Joe Biden called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a wide-ranging police reform bill that was drafted in 2020 while Harris was senator for California. A year later, the bill passed in Congress but stalled in the Senate.
Harris, who is anticipated to make racial justice a part of her presidential-run platform, said she joined with Biden in commending the “swift action” of the Illinois attorney’s office and in calling on Congress to pass the George Floyd policing legislation, “a bill that I coauthored in the Senate”.
“In this moment,” Harris added, “in honor of Sonya’s memory and the memory of so many more whose names we may never know, we must come together to achieve meaningful reforms that advance the safety of all communities.”
