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Retired NBA All-Star Shawn Kemp has been charged by police with first degree assault after an incident in March where he allegedly fired a gun in a mall parking lot in Tacoma, Washington.
Kemp’s lawyer Scott Boatman says Kemp will enter a plea of not guilty after his client claims that he was acting in self defense as he tried to recover allegedly stolen property.
‘Today, Shawn Kemp learned that the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office elected to file charges against him,’ Boatman said in a statement via ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. ‘He will be entering a plea of not guilty at his upcoming arraignment.
‘He has been fully cooperative with the police and the prosecutor’s office throughout this process. He is confident that once the jury hears from the witnesses and sees the evidence at trial, they will conclude that he was justified in defending himself that afternoon.’
Officers were actually responding to a report of ‘two suspects firing shots at each other,’ according to dispatch audio obtained by TMZ.
Former NBA All-Star Shawn Kemp has been charged with first-degree assault in Washington
Kemp, above in 2021, was detained in connection with a drive-by shooting in early March
Kemp is a legendary six-time NBA All-Star and played for Seattle Supersonics for eight years
The Seattle SuperSonics legend, 53, was booked by cops at 5:58pm Pacific Time (8:58pm EST) on March 8, just hours after he was involved in an alleged drive-by shooting involving two cars in the parking lot of a shopping mall. Kemp was released on March 9.
Fox 13 reported that Kemp ‘had property stolen from his car on Tuesday [March 7] and tracked his iPhone to Tacoma on Wednesday [March 8].’
A police report on revealed that shots were fired in a parking lot near the 4500 block of South Steele Street, close to the Courtesy Tire store.
Four shots were heard and a revolver was found outside a Firestone Complete Auto Care, according to TMZ. Video published by the website shows a man, who appears to be Kemp, ditching something out of his driver’s side window before his arrest, where police later found a handgun.
Police said nobody was hurt in the shooting, but that Kemp – initially identified as a 53-year-old man and later named in the report – was held at the scene.
Drive-by shooting is a Class B felony under Washington state law, and carries up to a 10-year prison sentence and maximum $20,000 fine. The incident occurred shortly before 2pm, and a gun was recovered in the parking lot.
Kemp was previously arrested in 2005 in Shoreline for investigation of drug possession, where he and another man were found with a small amount of cocaine, 60 grams of marijuana and a semiautomatic pistol.
A year later, he was arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession in Texas.
In his post-playing career, he has been involved in a series of business ventures, notably opening a cannabis dispensary in 2020.
He also owned a sports bar in Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, named Oskar’s Kitchen, but the establishment was shuttered in 2015. It is reported that he still holds part-ownership of a different restaurant in the city.
The Pierce County Corrections website shows Kemp’s booking at 17:58 on March 8
A Google Street View image shows the parking lot where the alleged drive-by occurred
Kemp, wearing 40, looks on during a 1996 NBA game at Arco Arena in Sacramento, California
Kemp was drafted in the first round of the 1989 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, which became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.
He played for the team for nine years, and was an NBA All-Star for the last five of them.
In 1997, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he played for three seasons and earned himself a sixth All-Star accolade.
At the end of his career, he played for the Portland Trail Blazers and Orlando Magic, where he retired in 2003.
Since his playing days, he has been actively involved in attempts to bring an NBA franchise back to Seattle, after it lost its SuperSonics in 2008.
In 2022, Kemp told the Athletic he wouldn’t stop until the city ‘got the actual Sonics back’.
