Swainsboro, Georgia police officer charged with gunpoint threats

SOPERTON, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia state police officer has been charged after investigators say he pointed a gun at three people while responding to a 911 call about an assault, officials said.

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

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Soperton police asked it to investigate Bishop's actions in connection with the July 26 incident.

Investigators say Bishop responded to the call and stopped a car containing three people who were relatives of friends of the victim. Bishop and the others 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 banging on the windows and threatening to shoot the car, GBI agents said.

Bishop was released from jail on $25,000 bail. Jail records do not list an attorney for Bishop, and he did not immediately respond to emails Tuesday. Soperton Police Chief James Mills did not return a phone message.

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

District Attorney Craig Fraser will decide whether to file charges against Bishop after the investigation is complete.

Soperton, with 2,900 residents, is located about 110 kilometers southeast of Macon.

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