CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Governor Pritzker says some kind of action may be needed to ensure that tragedies like a sheriff deputy’s killing of a Springfield woman never happens again.
The family of Sonya Massey says they want a police reform law to be passed, bearing her name.
The 36-year-old woman had called 9-1-1, reporting a possible prowler, and ended up being shot and killed by a Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy who answered the call.
Sean Grayson had worked for six different police agencies over four years.
Governor Pritzker says that’s troubling.
“The way in which this deputy sheriff was hired…the background should have been taken into account,” Pritzker said Tuesday at an unrelated event. “The way that he was hired is an enormous question mark that still needs to be made transparent.”
Grayson has been fired and stands charged with first degree murder.
Still, the governor says he has questions and isn’t satisfied with the answers he’s hearing from Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell.
“How did the sheriff end up hiring this person, [they] must have known their background, must have?” Pritzker asked. “No one hires somebody without checking the hiree’s background.”
Wednesday, Pritzker called on Campbell to resign.
"The sheriff has failed," the governor said. "He's failed to explain how he ended up hiring this deputy sheriff who has been fired from other departments. He failed to put forward reforms that clearly need to be made...and still has failed to meet with the Massey family."
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