Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – “Sonya Massey should still be here.”

That’s some of a statement put out Monday by a group that formed after Sangamon County’s Massey Commission completed its work — the Massey Community Action Network (MCAN) — once it was learned that now-former Deputy Sean Grayson died Sunday in prison.

The network says in their statement that news of Grayson’s death arrives in the midst of their work, and that Massey’s absence remains “at the center of our work and of the responsibility our community carries forward.”

“Sonya Massey called for help in her own home. She was a mother, a daughter, and a member of this community. She should have been safe. Instead, she was killed,” says MCAN’s statement. “Her killing, and what this community surfaced in the months that followed, forced a confrontation with shortcomings and failures across Sangamon County that could no longer be explained away as “isolated incidents” or “unfortunate circumstances.”

They say while there is no one single response needed from Grayson’s death, the family still will have questions, and in responsibility.

“Residents came forward. They named what they had lived through. They shared what they knew about the systems meant to serve and protect them,” said MCAN,  “And together, our community pressed a deeper question: What would it take to make sure this never happens again to another family?”

They also say that Grayson’s death doesn’t resolve many of the conditions that made the death possible.

“Those conditions remain our responsibility. So do the commitments made in Sonya’s name,” said MCAN.

The full statement can be read below.

In a related matter, the Illinois Department of Corrections told CapitolCityNow and WTAX News by e-mail Monday afternoon that Grayson died “at a facility outside Illinois,” but they declined to say where.