--- description: A police officer in Georgia will be fired after he was recorded on video telling a woman during a traffic stop, “We only shoot black people” title: Georgia Police Officer Fired for Saying 'We Only Shoot Black People' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c0696932432a1af/6988dc1ccf40a8fa4fc49369/police-siren-stock-officer.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [georgia](/tag/georgia/) ## georgia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Georgia Police Officer Fired for Saying 'We Only Shoot Black People' by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 31, 2017 11:37 PM CUT  The roof of a police patrol car at night, with the blue and red lights flashing. The roof of a police patrol car at night, with the blue and red lights flashing.kali9—iStockphoto/Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 31, 2017 11:37 PM CUT A police officer in Georgia will be fired after he was recorded on video telling a woman during a traffic stop, “We only shoot black people.” The video, which was obtained by [WSB Atlanta](http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/cobb-county/officer-to-woman-during-traffic-stop-we-only-kill-black-people-right/600704431 "undefined"), shows Lt. Greg Abbott of the Cobb County Police Department telling a white woman she can use her phone during the traffic stop. When the woman responds that she was afraid to because she has seen “way too many [videos of cops](http://time.com/4192984/indio-police-shooting-lawsuit/ "undefined"),” Abbott stops her to say she will be fine because she’s not black. “But you’re not black,” Abbott says on the video. “Remember, we only shoot black people. Yeah. We only kill black people, right?” Abbott was initially placed on [administrative leave](http://time.com/4922963/police-officer-on-dash-cam-video-we-only-shoot-black-people/ "undefined"), but Police Chief Mike Register said during a press conference on Thursday that the department planned to fire the lieutenant, according to the [Atlanta _Journal-Constitution_](http://www.ajc.com/news/local/cobb-officer-who-said-only-shoot-black-people-says-retire/8B3H64z17G9WrybtMj92tI/ "undefined"). “I have known Lt. (Greg) Abbott for years and perceived him as honorable, but he’s made a mistake. I don’t know what is in his heart, but I know what came out of his mouth,” Register said on Thursday. “We recommend that he be terminated and we are moving forward on that.” However, as the press conference was happening, Abbott sent an email announcing his retirement, the _Journal-Constitution_ reported. The Cobb County police office told the local paper it was not immediately clear how this development would affect Abbott’s firing. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4924435/greg-abbott-cobb-county-only-shoot-black-people/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4924435/greg-abbott-cobb-county-only-shoot-black-people/"},"headline":"Georgia Police Officer Fired for Saying 'We Only Shoot Black People'","datePublished":"2017-08-31T23:37:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:13:17.613Z","description":"The police chief said the officer's comments were \"inappropriate\"","url":"https://time.com/4924435/greg-abbott-cobb-county-only-shoot-black-people/","keywords":["georgia","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c0696932432a1af/6988dc1ccf40a8fa4fc49369/police-siren-stock-officer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c0696932432a1af/6988dc1ccf40a8fa4fc49369/police-siren-stock-officer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Child Thrown From Vehicle","caption":"Child Thrown From Vehicle","creditText":"kali9—iStockphoto/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/georgia/","name":"georgia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4924435/greg-abbott-cobb-county-only-shoot-black-people/","name":"Georgia Police Officer Fired for Saying 'We Only Shoot Black People'"}}]}] ```