Four days before Christmas, Macon police officer Clayton Sutton was dispatched to a midtown grocery store about someone begging customers for money.

As Sutton wheeled into the Kroger parking lot east of Pio Nono Avenue, he spotted a guy he would later describe as being the size of a “soda machine.”

The 6-foot-2, 365-pound man was sitting on a bench near the supermarket’s front doors.

“I got out of the car, got about an arm’s length or a little bit away from him. I asked him to take his hands out (of) his pocket(s) and he would take his right hand out and he wouldn’t take out his left,” Sutton told investigators.

“I then asked him again to take his hands out of his pockets and that’s when he lunged at me, grabbing me around my head. ... I was able to block his left hand with my right hand somewhat and that’s when I felt him cutting me on the side of my neck. I began pushing away and drew my weapon and fired three rounds and ran backwards until I hit a car.”

Despite two bullets in his gut and a third in his chest, Davis, also known as Junebug, was still on his feet and walking toward the officer. Sutton held him at gunpoint and told him to sit on the curb.

Sutton said he didn’t know what made the 49-year-old Davis attack him, according to his statement to investigators. The statement, and other documents, were released Wednesday by the Bibb County District Attorney’s Office. Additional documents and videos, although the footage doesn’t show the shooting, will be released later.

District Attorney David Cooke said Tuesday that Sutton was justified in shooting Davis and no criminal charges will be filed. Police are conducting an internal affairs investigation to determine whether any department policies were violated.

The statements and reports included in the GBI’s investigation provide insight of a confrontation that has triggered protests and some public outcry.

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At about 3:30 p.m. on the day of the shooting, Kroger shopper Vivian Marable called 911 from the safety of her car after she was bothered by a man begging her for money.

She went in to buy groceries and “this black guy came up behind me as I was going in, but he didn’t go any further, so I went on in and bought groceries,” Marable told police.

Marable was leaning over, putting groceries in her trunk, when the man returned and asked for money.

She gave him a dollar and some change.

When all the groceries were stowed, she jumped in her car and called police.

Other shoppers and a Kroger employee saw Sutton, 29, arrive and talk with Davis.

Benita Humphrey saw Davis and Sutton as she walked toward the store.

“There was no arguing, no fussing, no nothing. I don’t even know if the other guy was talking,” Humphrey told police.

In his statement to GBI agents, Sutton said he started up a conversation with Davis.

“What are you doing?” Sutton asked.

Davis responded, “Nothing.”

Sutton asked, “Are you going to go shopping?”

Davis said, “I have no money.”

The officer asked Davis for his name.

Frank James, the Kroger employee, was in his car parked in the fire lane at the front of the store when he saw Sutton, still in his patrol car, talking with Davis.

“As I was driving by, I said to myself, ‘I wonder what big boy did today? Is he in trouble?’ ’’ James later told investigators.

He said he knew Davis and was familiar with a 2010 tussle between store employees and Davis after he reportedly begged a teenage girl for money.

James told police he’d had chatted with Davis about panhandling.

“If he’s on his medication, he’s a gentle giant. If he’s not, he’s talking to himself out loud,” James said.

Sometimes, he asked Davis if he’d taken his medication.

“He would just grin,” James said. “And I’d say if he hadn’t taken his medication today he had to go home, and he would leave. He would never say (whether) he’s taken it or not. He would just go.”

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Chassidy Martin was in her green Infiniti with the windows rolled up when she saw Davis raise his arms and move toward Sutton.

“The guy charged at the officer and the officer moved back. ... The guy was coming towards the officer, I guess. I don’t know. The officer pulled his gun and started shooting, and the officer was still moving backwards and he bumped into my car and broke my mirror,” Martin told police. “I just ducked because I didn’t know if they were shooting at me. ... The guy was holding his stomach and then he went back over and sat on the curb.”

James described the shots as sounding like “three knocks” on his car window.

Then he saw people running and saw Sutton holding a gun on Davis, telling him, “don’t move, don’t you (expletive) move.”

James got out of his car and while walking to the store asked Sutton, “Did you shoot him?” Sutton didn’t acknowledge the question.

Davis was on the ground and Sutton was calling for backup and an ambulance.

Before paramedics arrived, police tried to save Davis’ life. They ran into Kroger to get medical supplies, according to another officer’s statement.

Police officer David Whigham told the GBI that Sutton, who typically has a calm demeanor, was “hysterical.” He was “excited and screaming.”

An emergency worker said Sutton seemed “shaken and traumatized.”

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In his statement to police on New Year’s Eve, Sutton was questioned by Sgt. Fred Carmical.

Carmical asked Sutton to describe what it felt like when he was being cut.

“Just a sharp pain in my neck,” Sutton said.

Carmical then asked what he thought caused the pain.

“I thought he was cutting me with something. I wasn’t sure what it was,” Sutton said.

Sutton’s cut was about 5 inches long and stretched from his right cheek to the hairline at the back of his neck. There were red welts around the cut.

GBI tests found Sutton’s DNA underneath Davis’ fingernails, which a firefighter told the GBI were long.

Cheryl Davis, when interviewed by the GBI, said her brother often went to Kroger and asked people for small amounts of money. He’d leave home at about 10 a.m. and return after dark.

She said her brother, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, “just enjoyed going and sitting at the Kroger.”

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Sutton told the GBI he’d had two prior “use of force” complaints. In one, a woman alleged he was too rough at a traffic stop where she was charged with cocaine possession and “being combative.” The police department issued him a written reprimand.

In the other case, Sutton also received a written reprimand after someone claimed he struck them with a flashlight. Sutton had actually used his fist to hit the person three times.

Sutton told GBI agents the only crimes he had ever been charged with were “reckless driving, destruction of mailboxes, baiting bears and possession of illegally taken wildlife.”

He paid fines or was put on probation for the charges, he said.

Since the fatal shooting, some locals have wondered whether Sutton, had he been armed with a Taser, could have brought Davis under control without lethal force.

During his Dec. 31 interview with investigators, Sutton was asked, “Was there any other alternative practical in the situation you were in?”

“I do not believe so,” he said.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398. To contact writer Joe Kovac Jr., call 744-4397.