By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Sangamon County sheriff Jack Campbell made the rounds of local and national media Thursday to try to get his side of the story out about one of his former employees – now jailed for the shooting death of a Black woman, Sonya Massey, last month. 

Massey, 36, called 9-1-1 for a possible break-in at her home July 6. Within an hour, deputy Sean Grayson shot and killed her. Grayson later said he was afraid Massey would scald him with hot water. 

Campbell assumed the shooting would have been justified.

Then he watched the video.

“As soon as I watched it, I was sick to my stomach. I was horrified. We knew exactly what the future held for us,” said Campbell. “It was very difficult to talk about at that point, because we knew what had to be done.”

Campbell, 60, reiterated he will not quit but that running for a third term in 2026 would be a family decision.

The case has attracted national attemption and protests, with lawyer Ben Crump representing Massey’s family and Rev. Al Sharpton lent his voice to the proceedings.

Campbell added Grayson came up through small departments with part time jobs, like a lot of other lawmen. And he says if misdemeanor DUI disqualified you from police work, there’d be lots of ineligible people out there.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].