Former NBA All-Star Shawn Kemp was arrested on Wednesday afternoon and booked by Tacoma police on drive-by shooting charges after an altercation in the parking lot outside Tacoma Mall in which shots were fired from a vehicle that did not strike anyone. Police have recovered the gun from the incident and are still currently investigating.
At 1:58 pm, an altercation between the occupants of 2 cars led to shots being fired at a parking lot in the 4500 blk of S. Steele St. One car fled. No injuries were reported. A gun was recovered. A 53-yr-old male was booked for Drive-By Shooting. The investigation is ongoing. pic.twitter.com/XTIeU1I4Jj
— Tacoma Police Department (@TacomaPD) March 9, 2023
Kemp was booked at 5:58 p.m. PT into Pierce County Corrections for one count of drive-by shooting after his car allegedly fled the scene after shots were fired earlier in the afternoon, via FOX 13 Seattle.
The shooting call came into police just before 2 p.m. Shots were fired from a passing vehicle in the parking lot on the northeast side of the mall near the Courtesy Tire store.
Police said nobody was hurt in the shooting, and that the suspect initially identified as a 53-year-old man was detained at the scene.
Kemp faced legal trouble in the past shortly after his playing career ended, with a pair of drug possession charges in 2005 and 2006, but has since become invested and involved in a number of local businesses in the Seattle area, including opening the first black-owned dispensary in Seattle in 2020, Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis.
UPDATE: According to Fox 13 Seattle, someone close to Kemp claims he fired back at someone in self-defense after he tracked his stolen iPhone to Tacoma and went to confront the person who stole it.
Kemp’s attorneys issued a statement on his behalf later on Thursday.
Attorney Scott Boatman statement on his client Shawn Kemp: pic.twitter.com/2slkabXWl8
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 9, 2023
Prosecutors said Kemp would not face immediate charges and was being released from jail, pending an investigation, via ESPN.
Adam Faber, a spokesperson for the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, said in an emailed statement Thursday afternoon that that no charges were immediately being filed against Kemp and that he was being released from jail pending further investigation.
