To her 17-year-old son, Sonia Massey was a “superhero.”
“She was a loving person,” Malachi Hill Massey said. “I don’t know how it happened, but she was a bundle of love. To me, she was the best person on earth.”
Malachi said his earliest memories of his mother involve reading the Bible and exploring the Christian faith. In addition to being a great cook and an outgoing woman who could talk to “anyone,” he said his mother was an outspoken Christian and devoted to her children.
Massey, 36, was a man of deep faith who spent his days praying, caring for his children, cooking and spending time with his family, his uncle, Raymond Massey, told NBC News in an interview. Raymond said he and Massey were very close, and that Massey would call him often and text him the day he was killed, saying, “I love you, Uncle.”
“She was very caring and always happy. She had a great spirit,” said Raymond, 64. “Every time she had an accomplishment, or her kids had an accomplishment, she called me. She was so proud. She was a great soul.”
Massey was shot and killed in his Springfield, Illinois, home on July 6 after calling police about what he believed to be an intruder in his home. No evidence of an intruder has been released. Two Sangamon County sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene, and the interaction was captured on their body cameras.
“This just shouldn’t have happened. I keep asking myself why this happened. This just shouldn’t have happened,” Malachi said. “She was my whole heart.”
Raymond said Massey’s ambitions were primarily about her children. Though she was retired from a local gaming company, Raymond watched as Massey took on a part-time job so she could surprise her son with a car, according to the obituary.
“She did a lot of that for her kids,” Raymond said. “She was focused on God and her love for her kids. They were always well-dressed and well-behaved. That was her one focus. She tried to be all that she could be and she wanted her kids to be all that she could be.”
Police body camera footage shows Massey turning off the stove and using both hands to pick up a pot of water after one of the officers says, “We don’t want a fire while we’re here.” Three people can be heard laughing about it, before Massey says, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” a religious saying often used to ward off danger.
Deputy Shawn Grayson fired at Massey after he yelled “stop.” Massey died at the hospital from a gunshot wound to the head. Deputy Grayson, whose body camera was turned off during the encounter, was fired from the police department and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a firearm and misconduct in office. Deputy Grayson has pleaded not guilty. The identity of the other officer has not been released.
As Massey’s death sparks protests and reignites a national conversation about police violence, her family and friends are remembering her life and the ways she spread love and joy.
“That’s my mom,” Malachi said, “But even if it wasn’t my mom and I knew her, to me she was probably the best person on the planet. She was my superhero.”
Massey suffered from mental illness and had been receiving treatment in the weeks before her death. She briefly entered an inpatient treatment program and called emergency services three times in the weeks before her death, NBC Chicago reported, citing call logs. On July 5, the day before Massey was shot, Massey’s mother called police, telling dispatchers that her daughter was emotionally distressed but not dangerous, and saying, “She’s acting out sporadically, and I don’t want you guys to hurt her.”
Sangamon County Commissioner Mark Ayers told WMAQ that Massey’s death calls into question the way police respond to incidents related to mental health issues.
“The former deputy sheriff who responded to the scene let her down, and let her down badly,” Ayers said. “There are a lot of questions that need to be answered about how this happened in the first place.”
Malachi said Massey had sent him and his sister, Janet “Summer” Massey, 15, to live with their respective fathers so he could receive mental health treatment, according to the Associated Press.
Family members said Massey had many talents, including styling hair. Amid the tears and grief at her funeral on July 19, one of Massey’s cousins laughed and spoke of her bubbly personality and talent for cooking.
“I’ve been a vegetarian for 25 years and I still miss her shredded chicken nachos,” a woman who identified herself as Massey’s cousin said at the funeral. “Sonia was such a talented person.”
She added of Massey’s ambitious nature: “She says she wants something and she goes after it.”
In the weeks after the killing, Massey’s family and friends held rallies and vigils, joined by activists and relatives of other black people killed by police.
State Sen. Doris Turner, R-Springfield, told Chicago’s WBEZ radio that she, Massey and Massey’s mother, Donna, had been talking on the porch of Turner’s home just a week before Massey’s death.
Turner said she was “devastated” when she learned Massey, who she had known since childhood, had died.
“Sonia was a very small woman, quiet, soft-spoken, very friendly – not combative at all,” Turner said. “When her cousin called me earlier that morning and told me what had happened, I was… in disbelief.”
Raymond said she gathered her family at her home in the weeks following Massey’s death to grieve together. It was a healing reunion for the family, but Massey’s mother and children are still suffering, she said.
“Summer misses her mother very much. She loved her mother very much,” Raymond said. As for Massey’s mother, Donna, “she’s not sleeping well,” Raymond said, adding that she lives in fear that Grayson will not be sent to prison for Massey’s death.
“Sonia was not an angry person,” Raymond said, “she was a loving, caring person, and that’s why she should be here today.”
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