About 50 people gathered Friday afternoon to protest the Dec. 21 fatal shooting of a man at the Pio Nono Avenue Kroger by a Macon police officer.

Several of the protesters held signs reading “Justice for Junebug,” “Wanted for murder: Clayton Sutton,” and “Silence is Violence.”

Voices at the protest rally in Rosa Parks Square across the street from City Hall cried out “murderer” several times while the sister of Sammie “Junebug” Davis Jr. spoke to the crowd.

Cheryl Davis said her brother, who was shot three times in the chest, was “meek as a lamb” and that he “shouldn’t have died because somebody used poor judgment.”

Officer Clayton Sutton, who was placed on administrative leave after the shooting, should be sent to prison, she said.

Police are conducting an investigation of the shooting but have released little information about the circumstances leading up to it. Police did not attend the rally.

At the event, former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis led the group in a chant that repeated, “No justice, no peace.”

Ellis called on the community to stand by Davis and her family while police complete their investigation.

If the probe finds that Sammie Davis couldn’t have put Sutton in fear for his life, the case should be tried by a jury, he said.

According to a police report released this week, another police officer noticed blood coming from Sutton’s neck after the shooting and Sutton said he’d been cut.

Police searched Davis, looking for a weapon, but didn’t find one.

Anthony Harris, one of the protest organizers, held a sign that read, “Welcome to Macon ... Eat chips and die!” The sign referenced Davis, who often ate chips and sipped bottled soda while sitting with other men on benches near the Kroger entrance.

Harris said he feels unsettled by the incorrect information initially released by police: that Sutton, 29, was attempting to serve a warrant on Davis. Officers later said Davis had no outstanding warrants and that Sutton was responding to a call for service involving Davis.

He said he doesn’t understand why the police investigation has taken so long.

If someone shot a police officer, he said, they would get the death penalty and wouldn’t be sitting at home during Christmas as Sutton was allowed.

“I want this guy fired and put in prison,” Harris said.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.