SALISBURY — Women for Community Justice will hold a memorial vigil on Monday, July 29, in Salisbury to mourn the death of Sonya Massey, the 36-year-old Black woman killed by a law enforcement officer inside her own home in Springfield, Illinois.

The event will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Gateway Park, 102 Depot St. in downtown Salisbury.

Vigils and rallies around the country are honoring the life of Massey, who was shot fatally in the head July 6 by sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson. A grand jury has indicted Grayson on three charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He was also fired.

Massey’s murder has renewed calls for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a proposed federal law aimed at reforming law enforcement by banning chokeholds, requiring de-escalation training, creating a national registry of police misconduct complaints and more.

“We invite people to join us to remember Sonya Massey during this peaceful vigil when we will once again call out police brutality in its ugliest and deadliest form,” said Mary Walker, a co-facilitator of Women for Community Justice. “We demand that Congress hold law enforcement accountable for unconstitutional and unethical conduct wherever it occurs.”

The act is named for George Floyd, who was murdered by police in Minneapolis in May 2020, sparking a year of national protests in all 50 states calling for an end to police brutality against non-white communities and demanding accountability in every sector of law enforcement. 

Massey’s shooting is the latest example of the disproportionate likelihood that Black Americans will face police violence compared to other demographic groups and the need for laws to combat that reality. In 2023, police killed more than 1,300 people, which was a new record, according to the organization Mapping Police Violence. Black people were almost three times more likely to be killed by police than white people.

For more information about the event, contact Women for Community Justice at women4communityjustice@gmail.com.