Vigil held at Kiener Plaza, honoring Sonya Massey

ST. LOUIS - The nation mourns as vigils are held from coast to coast for Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman fatally shot by police in her Springfield, Ill., home. Residents gathered at Kiener Plaza in St. Louis Monday evening, united in grief and outrage over what they see as a tragic miscarriage of justice.   

Massey was shot and killed after calling for help and gearing an intruder. The officer, Sean Grayson, is charged with her murder, but citizens in St. Louis told FOX 2 that this tragedy echoes a disturbing pattern of Black women who have lost their lives in their own homes.

“Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland... the pattern means we don’t know how to police our communities, or they haven’t made the possible changes in hiring police to where they need to be from the communities,” Kourtney Harris, one of the vigil’s organizers, said.

The release of body camera footage has sparked national outrage, showing a chaotic scene. Grayson, who had a history of misconduct, was fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department.

Now, the Massey family, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crum...