Thanks for contacting us. We’ve received your submission.
The fired Illinois sheriff’s deputy facing murder charges in the shooting death of Sonya Massey had a history of troubling behavior on the job — and was even warned he could end up in jail.
Sean Grayson, 30, was told off by a superior officer at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office in a scathing conversation from November 2022, an audio file obtained by CBS News revealed.
“The sheriff and I will not tolerate lying or deception,” the supervising officer can be heard telling Grayson.
Grayson’s superior accused him of lying in his reports and of “official misconduct” — and even cautioned that “officers [like you] have been charged and they end up in jail.”
Grayson started working full-time for the Logan County Sheriff in May 2022, following a series of part-time stints at a handful of Illinois police departments.
In the spring of 2023, he was accused of “abusing his power” and “harassing” a man and woman arrested at a traffic stop, records seen by CBS indicated.
The pair filed a complaint against Grayson, saying that the woman felt violated when he supposedly stormed into the examining room at the hospital where she was brought to have drugs removed from her body, the outlet said.
Grayson, however, denied any misconduct or even being at the hospital. The complaint was eventually deemed unfounded.
Wayman Meredith, the chief of police in Girard, told CBS that he got into an argument with Grayson in March 2023, when the younger officer demanded that he send child protective services to address a woman outside of his mother’s home.
“He was acting like a bully,” Meredith told the outlet. “He was wanting me to do stuff that was not kosher.”
Meredith was concerned enough about the incident to flag it to the Logan County sheriff, adding that he believed Grayson had been diagnosed with cancer and his brother had died by suicide.
Grayson worked in Logan County until April 2023, when he took a new job at the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.
Meredith was concerned enough about the incident to flag it to the Logan County sheriff, adding that he believed Grayson had been diagnosed with cancer and his brother had died by suicide.
He left Logan County in “good standing” — despite the previous complaints, CBS noted.
Grayson was fired from Sangamon County last week after he pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct in connection with the July 6 shooting death of Massey.
Massey, 36, had called officers to her house to investigate a possible intruder. Body cam footage from the encounter showed Grayson, who is white, drawing his pistol on the black mom of two in her kitchen and threatening to shoot her in her “f–king face.”
He then fired at Massey and hit her three times — including a fatal shot to her head.
After the shooting, Grayson could be heard saying that Massey was going to throw hot water on him, which is not corroborated by the footage.
Massey’s death was officially ruled a homicide by the autopsy report this week.
Grayson twice pleaded guilty to driving under the influence before he became a police officer, CBS News previously reported. He also left the Army after only serving for 19 months.