Atlanta cop who killed driver had ‘no idea’ who was inside car

An Atlanta cop who killed an unarmed black man last month had no idea who was inside the car he shot into, an internal affairs investigation found.

Officer James R. Burns was fired from the force earlier this month after the June killing of 22-year-old Deravis Caine Rogers. The three-year department veteran did not know if the suspect he was chasing was inside the car and fired at it as it drove away from — not toward — the cop, according to a report released Wednesday.

“He had no idea who was in the vehicle. He had no idea if that was the vehicle he should be concerned with. He just discharged his weapon," Sgt. Warren Pickard told 11 Alive News. “The officer simply acted in a way that we cannot support.”

Georgia’s Bureau of Investigation is looking into the shooting for any possible criminal violation.

"It's a murder," Deravis Thomas, Rogers’ dad, told the TV station. "It's a murder and we need justice for that. He needs to be indicted and prosecuted,"

Burns was called to an apartment complex in northeast Atlanta on June 22 after an off-duty cop reported a suspicious person allegedly breaking into cars in the parking lot, according to a copy of the investigation report obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.