ATLANTA

Former Cop Indicted in Fatal Shooting

Charged with felony murder for killing unarmed black 22-year-old.

A former Atlanta police officer was indicted by a grand jury in Georgia’s Fulton County on Wednesday for the June killing of a 22-year-old unarmed black man. In addition to felony murder, James Burns was charged with aggravated assault, making a false statement, and violating the oath of office for his involvement in the death of Deravis Caine Rogers. Burns was fired in July after an internal investigation found that he’d used excessive force in the incident. He fatally shot Rogers after responding to a call about a suspicious person at an apartment complex. When he arrived at the scene, he blocked Rogers’s Ford Fusion; when Rogers attempted to leave, Burns allegedly fired a shot into his vehicle, killing him. Prosecutors say Burns had no reason to believe Rogers was the suspicious person that had been reported, and that Rogers posed no threat to him.