SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday criticized Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell for hiring the sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Sonya Massey in her kitchen after she called for help last month.
“I have a lot of questions and I’m so far disappointed with the answers that I’m hearing from the sheriff,” the governor said during a news conference in Chicago. “How did the sheriff end up hiring this person? (He) must have known their background, must have. I mean, no one hires somebody without checking the hirees’ background.”
Sean P. Grayson , who was fired after shooting Massey in the face, faces first-degree murder charges. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in Sangamon County Court on July 18 and remains in custody.
Grayson’s personnel fi l es released last week by the county included testimony from one of his former police chiefs saying, “he needed more training” and also documented the two DUI convictions he had received in 2015 and 2016.
The records revealed he also scored “low” on his cognitive assessment as part of his psychological evaluation but met the acceptable standards for being hired.