Justice rally held in Washington Square Park for Sonya Massey killed by police in her home
Protesters gathered in Washington Square Park on Thursday to call for justice in the police killing of Sonya Massey in Illinois.
36-year-old Massey was shot in her home by police after they responded to her 911 call about a suspected prowler.
Protesters say history continues to repeat itself.
"It impacts me as a Black woman but it affects me as a human first as it should affect all people. To see someone who is asking for help and who clearly needed that help and to see the tragic end that happened - so I think on a humane level I empathize because that could be any of us," Blair Baldwin said.
Baldwin said she refuses to watch the bodycam video that shows the moment a sheriff's deputy shoots and kills Massey as she held a pot that had been on her stove.
The organizers of the rally said not enough has changed since the murder of George Floyd and doesn't believe much ever will.
"It's traumatizing to see it every year. Multiple times a year. Even though they locked this man up - still we're going to see this again - later on this year," said Relly Rebel, Organizer of We The People NYC.
Deputy Sean Grayson, 30, was indicted by a grand jury last week on three counts of first-degree murder and one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct.
"I have respect for what they're trying to do - but the way they're doing it is terrible and that needs to change," Karen Ramspacher said.
A State Attorney in Illinois said if Grayson felt threatened he had many other options besides firing his gun.
A sentiment echoed in Greenwich Village on Thursday night.
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