Former NBA star Shawn Kemp charged in parking lot shooting

SEATTLE (AP) — Prosecutors in Washington state charged former NBA star Shawn Kemp on Friday with first-degree assault in a car parking zone capturing final month over a stolen cellphone, saying that in a textual content message simply earlier than the capturing, Kemp wrote, “I’m about to shoot this (expletive).”

Kemp was arrested after the capturing exterior the Tacoma Mall on March 8. Nobody was injured, and Kemp’s attorneys have insisted he returned fireplace in self protection after monitoring and attempting to retrieve a cellphone that had been stolen from him earlier that day.

In a written assertion despatched by protection legal professional Tim Leary on Friday, Kemp’s authorized crew mentioned he would plead not responsible: “He’s assured that when the jury hears from the witnesses and sees the proof at trial, they may conclude that he was justified in defending himself that afternoon.”

A possible trigger assertion by Tacoma police, filed in Pierce County Superior Courtroom on Friday, didn’t point out Kemp was shot at. It mentioned a few of his statements weren’t corroborated by surveillance video, and that the textual content message despatched simply 13 minutes earlier than he arrived on the mall confirmed his intent.

The doc mentioned Kemp informed police that after being shot at he went again to his personal car, parked a number of spots away, to get his personal gun. However the video confirmed that he was armed with the weapon when he approached the parked Toyota 4Runner the place he had tracked his cellphone.

Based on the assertion, Kemp tracked his cellphone to a Toyota 4Runner sport-utility car that was parked close to a JCPenney division retailer. He parked his personal automobile, a Porsche, a number of spots away, grabbed a handgun out of a backpack and approached the 4Runner, the assertion mentioned.

The assertion mentioned he fired 3 times into the Toyota after which threw his gun into some bushes. The motive force of the 4Runner appeared to duck one of many photographs and finally drove off, it mentioned. Solely about 5 minutes elapsed from the time Kemp arrived till the time the 4Runner left.

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The bullets that struck the 4Runner went via the entrance license plate mount, the entrance quarter panel towards the steering wheel, and thru the entrance passenger door.

Kemp is because of be arraigned Could 4.

Kemp, who has two licensed hashish shops in Seattle, was a six-time NBA all-star and performed for the Seattle SuperSonics from 1989 to 1997. He additionally performed for Cleveland, Portland and Orlando.

Kemp debuted within the NBA through the 1989-90 season as a 20-year-old who had by no means performed school basketball. He turned recognized for his high-flying dunks.