Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy convicted of fatally shooting Sonya Massey in her Springfield home in 2024, has died in prison, his attorney Daniel Fultz said. Grayson died around noon while six months into a 20-year sentence for second-degree murder; he was 32. Defense attorney Mark Wykoff told the court Grayson was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2023 and that it had progressed to Stage 4, spreading to his liver, lungs and rectum; in July the Illinois Prisoner Review Board denied him medical release. Court and body camera evidence showed Massey picked up a pot of boiling water and said “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” after which Grayson pointed his gun, threatened to shoot, and then fired three times as she apologized and dropped to the floor. Prosecutors said Grayson declined to render medical aid and Massey, 36, was pronounced dead at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield. The shooting, conviction, and Massey’s death prompted passage of the Sonya Massey Act imposing stricter background checks for law enforcement hires, and Sangamon County agreed in early 2025 to pay a $10 million settlement to Massey’s family.
