The family of a Macon man killed by a police officer at a popular grocery store Friday is searching for answers.

Sammie Davis Jr., 49, was shot in the chest three times by Macon Police Officer Clayton Sutton at the Kroger on Pio Nono Ave.

"My brother is gone,” sister Cheryl Davis said. “I can't never put my arms around him no more."

A devastated Cheryl Davis surrounded herself with family on Sunday as she tried to understand the killing of her brother who she called "Junebug."

"There are people angry because “Junebug “was killed and nobody will tell us why."

Officer Sutton went to the Kroger to deliver a warrant on Friday. Davis’s family asked managers at Kroger and other businesses around the store following Davis’s death if they called the police on Davis but store workers said no.

Davis' family said he sat in front of the store nearly every day for two years as a way to cope with the death of his parents back in 2008.

"He just became withdrawn from everybody,” Davis’s niece Kira Davis said. “He just I guess wanted to be alone and I guess going to Kroger was one way for him to deal with it."

At Kroger, Davis would drink a "Big K" and eat a bag of chips. The family said workers at Kroger knew Davis and saw him sit on the bench in the plaza nearly every day. Cheryl said she introduced herself to the managers at the grocery store and they told her Davis kept to himself and didn’t bother anyone.

"He was not a criminal,” Cheryl said. “He doesn't have a criminal record he hasn't been in any trouble. He doesn't own any weapons."

"Wasn't mentally challenged,” Kira said. “He didn't snap that Friday or anything. “Junebug” was just afraid of the police."

Despite being 6 feet and 310 pounds, the family said Davis didn't like confrontation and if he did act out it’s because he was afraid of Sutton.

“What keeps playing through my mind is what was “Junebug” thinking and how did he feel when there nobody was there to protect him,” Kira said.

Davis was taken to the Medical Center of Central Georgia. The family drove to the hospital thinking Davis was only shot in the arm. They were taken to a quiet room where they prayed for Davis’s recovery. However, it wasn’t until the doctor walked into the room that they found out he was shot in the chest and had been pronounced dead.

“I started screaming my uncle's name because it broke my heart,” Kira said was her reaction to the news. “I just couldn't believe it.”

The family said the police haven't told them why Davis was shot but they know life will no longer be the same without him.

"He (Sutton) has caused this family a great deal of pain,” Kira said. “Something we'll never understand and we still don't know why."
"
There's an empty seat in this house,” Cheryl said. “There’s emptiness in our hearts and our minds."

Family members said they've received condolences from members of the Macon Police Department and Mayor Robert Reichert. An autopsy is scheduled Wednesday with funeral arrangements pending.
Officer Sutton has been put on administrative leave while the Georgia Bureau Investigation looks into the incident.