Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell stepping down in wake of Sonya Massey shooting

(CNN) — Less than a month after one of his deputies was indicted by a grand jury on charges of first-degree murder in the shooting of Sonya Massey, Jack Campbell, the sheriff of Sangamon County, Illinois, announced he will retire by the end of the month.

Campbell made the announcement in a statement released Friday afternoon. His retirement is effective August 31.

“Some in our community want me to pay the price for that person’s actions, even threatening that I pay that price with my life, my family’s lives, or the lives of my Deputies,” Campbell said in the statement. “We will only persevere together as a community if we turn down the temperature and resolve to do better.”

Earlier this week, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton called on Campbell to resign over his handling of the fatal shooting, so the community can “begin to rebuild and restore trust between citizens and the sheriff’s department.”

“The community remains in fear that calling the Sheriff’s Office when they feel endangered will lead to another murder of an innocent resident,” Pritzker and Stratton said.

The governor released a statement Friday evening, saying he “hopes a fresh start with new leadership will usher in a new era of reform and rebuild the trust lost between the Sangamon County community and the Sheriff’s Office.”

Massey called 911 on July 6 to report a possible “prowler” at her home near Springfield, according to a court document filed by prosecutors. After two deputies went to the home to investigate, one of them, then-deputy Sean Grayson, shot and killed her following a dispute involving a pot of hot water, authorities said.

Body camera footage from another deputy showed Massey saying she rebuked Grayson, and the former deputy threatening the 36-year-old Black woman. Grayson asked Massey to remove a pan of water from a burner on the stove. Grayson moved away from the steaming water.

The encounter ended with Grayson shooting Massey in the head and failing to render aid. Massey’s family has said Sonya Massey struggled with mental health issues. Since the shooting, local and state officials have criticized the deputy’s actions as an unjustified use of deadly force.

Grayson, the 30-year-old former deputy who was fired after the incident, was indicted by a grand jury on July 17 on three counts of first-degree murder and one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in connection with the shooting.

He has entered a not guilty plea and was denied pretrial release, according to court records.

The sheriff’s office has been under scrutiny after it was disclosed that Grayson was discharged from the Army for serious misconduct and a history of driving under the influence yet still managed to get employed since 2020 by six Illinois law enforcement agencies – at three of them, as a part-time officer, employment records show.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Massey family, said in a statement Campbell’s retirement “marks a turning point in the ongoing pursuit of justice for Sonya Massey. Although the pain of her loss is still fresh, Sonya’s family is willing to work with the outgoing sheriff for the remainder of his tenure to help heal the community and achieve full justice for Sonya.”

“The Massey family also hopes to work with Sangamon County’s next sheriff to examine how this tragedy happened and to ensure that a tragedy like this never happens again in this community,” Crump said.

‘We failed Sonya,’ sheriff told community

Campbell previously said calls for his resignation “are nothing more than political maneuvering during a tragic event and only hurt the good citizens of Sangamon County. I was overwhelmingly elected to lead the Sheriff’s Office through both good times and bad.”

In his statement, the sheriff emphasized: “The one person truly responsible for this act is in jail, and I believe justice will be served through the legal process.”

Campbell offered his condolences to the Massey family, and said he has worked “tirelessly to present all of the facts to the public.”

“I have committed to making changes to our standards and collaborating with other units of government on ways to prevent incidents like this in the future,” he continued.

“We must honor the life of Sonya Massey by ensuring that no one else falls victim to such tragic and senseless action,” Campbell said. “That has been my sincere mission since that fateful day. But it has become clear that the current political climate has made it nearly impossible for me to continue effectively in my role.”

Massey is one of a number of Black women who have been killed by police in their own homes in recent years, including Breonna Taylor and Atatiana Jefferson. Crump has connected her death to other cases of police violence against Black people across the US.

Campbell said during a community meeting about the shooting at a church in Springfield late last month Massey “called for help and we failed.” At the meeting, Campbell asked for the community’s forgiveness and expressed his willingness to enforce change within the sheriff’s office.

“We did not do our jobs. We failed Sonya. We failed Sonya’s family and friends. We failed the community,” Campbell said at the meeting.

Several emergency response calls made by Massey and her mother, obtained by CNN, gave new details on law enforcement’s knowledge of Massey’s condition leading up to the shooting. Officers are trained in recognizing whether they are dealing with someone who might be experiencing a mental health crisis, CNN previously reported.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police, which conducts training and recommends best practices for law enforcement, says: “Officers are not expected to diagnose mental or emotional conditions, but rather to recognize behaviors that are potentially indicative” of someone in crisis.

The day before Massey was killed, her mother called 911 and said her daughter was having a mental breakdown but wasn’t dangerous: “I don’t want you guys to hurt her. Please.” It’s unclear whether the deputies who responded the next day knew about her mental health concern.

Sheriff said ex-deputy ‘needed more training’

Grayson joined the US Army in 2013 and served for three years, according to his attorney. He was discharged due to “misconduct (serious offense),” according to a Department of Defense document included in Grayson’s personnel file during his time with Kincaid police in Illinois.

The former deputy was hired at six law enforcement agencies in Illinois since 2020 after being charged with two DUI misdemeanor offenses in Illinois’ Macoupin County – one in 2015 and the other in 2016, court records show.

He began working part-time with Pawnee police in August 2020, then moved to the Kincaid and Virden police departments, before taking up full-time work with Auburn police, the Logan County Sheriff’s Office and, finally, in May 2023, Sangamon County.

Grayson’s personnel files also revealed several deficiencies in his workplace performance, training and skill set at agencies where he previously worked.

A spokesperson for the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office previously told CNN the agency did not receive a complete disciplinary report from Logan County about Grayson, including his reprimand for an inaccurate report of the traffic incident. The Logan County Sheriff’s Office recommended he take “high stress decision making classes.”

His psychological evaluation for employment at the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office noted that Grayson “knows he can move too fast at times” and that “he needs to slow down to make good decisions,” but ultimately concluded that “overall, he appears to be a suitable fit for the position.”

Massey’s family and their lawyers have called for the county to investigate the decision to hire him, voicing concerns about his arrest record and his working for six departments in four years.

The sheriff has said no law enforcement agencies reported problems with Grayson before he was hired in Sangamon County, though previous employers had commented he “needed more training.” Grayson received 16 weeks of academy training, according to Campbell.

Grayson’s personnel file included “references from people I know well,” the sheriff said after the shooting, adding those “insights are invaluable in making informed hiring decisions.”

A background check was performed prior to Grayson’s hiring in Sangamon County, Campbell said. Prior DUI convictions “are not disqualifying criteria for a deputy,” Campbell said.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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