Georgia police officer arrested after investigators say he threatened people while pointing a gun

SOPERTON, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia police officer has been criminally charged after investigators say he pulled a gun on three people while responding to a call about an assault, officials said Tuesday.

Kenneth Bishop, a 60-year-old man from Swainsboro, Georgia, was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated assault and terroristic threats and acts.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that the Soperton Police Department asked it to investigate Bishop’s actions in the July 26 incident.

Investigators say Bishop was responding to the assault call when he stopped a car occupied by three people who were relatives of friends of the assault victim. Bishop and the people in the car got into an argument, the GBI said, and Bishop pulled out his gun. He then pointed the gun at the car’s occupants while hitting the windows and threatening to shoot the car, GBI agents said.

Bishop was released from jail on $25,000 bail. Jail records don’t list a lawyer for Bishop and he didn’t immediately respond to emails on Tuesday. Soperton Police Chief James Mills did not respond to a phone message.

Bishop was fired July 31 from the Soperton Police Department, according to records from the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council. It was his second stint with the department after he voluntarily resigned in July 2023 and was rehired in November, records show. Bishop has also worked as a police officer in Swainsboro and as a corrections officer, records show.

District Attorney Craig Fraser will decide whether to seek an indictment against Bishop once the investigation is complete.

Soperton, with 2,900 residents, is about 65 miles (110 kilometers) southeast of Macon.