A former Atlanta police officer facing felony murder and other charges in connection with the shooting death of an unarmed black man turned himself in to the Fulton County jail on Saturday, jail spokesman Tracy Flanagan said.
James R. Burns shot and killed motorist Deravis Caine Rogers outside a northeast Atlanta apartment complex June 22, officials said. Burns was fired July 1 after an internal affairs investigation determined that he used excessive force.
That’s when Burns jumped from his vehicle, yelled “stop,” and shot through the Ford’s passenger side window. Rogers was hit in lower right side of his head and pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital.
An internal investigation found that officers on the scene, including Burns, didn’t know if Rogers was the suspect they were seeking. An agency spokesman recently told the AJC that there is no evidence of actual car break-ins in the complex or any evidence linking Rogers to criminal activity that night.
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