Slay susp has lame excuse

HE CAN’T stay out of jail — and he can’t tell the truth either.

Jamel Burney, an accused killer busted this week for the 87th time, told cops he pointed a gun at a man in the Bronx with the intent to scare him. And then the chrome Smith & Wesson .38-caliber special just went off, he claimed.

On Thursday, police sources trashed his account, saying the fatal shooting was no accident. Burney, 32, fired six shots — blasting Michael Vermong once in the chest about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. As Vermong, 46, staggered away from the shooting — outside a building on Bainbridge Ave. near E. 205th St. — Burney chased the victim. Sources said he pulled the trigger until he ran out of bullets. Then he pistol-whipped Vermong.

“You already shot me!” he pleaded with his attacker, according to the sources.

Vermong later died at Montefiore Medical Center.

At a candlelight memorial near the murder scene, Kenny Guzman, 32, said Burney owed Vermong a lot. “He was his best friend — that’s what I heard,” he said. “I know that he used to help him a lot, when he was like homeless. It’s really awful.”

Burney’s public arrest record shows 74 arrests and dates back to 2004 when he was 19. It includes 42 arrests for transit fraud, 17 for drugs and five for weapons possession. He also has 12 sealed arrests, sources said.

Burney was arraigned Thursday on murder charges in Bronx Criminal Court. Prosecutors cited Burney’s lengthy rap sheet and previous failures to appear in court as reasons to keep him in jail. He was ordered held without bail and is due back in court on April 4.

Police said the shooting was drug-related.