Shawn Kemp pleads guilty to shooting at two men in a parking lot. It was reportedly about fan merchandise.
Shawn Kemp, the former NBA star, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in a Tacoma, Washington court to shooting at two men in a shopping center parking lot in Washington.
The 55-year-old pleaded guilty in Pierce County Superior Court to second-degree assault as part of an agreement, according to the county prosecutor’s office. In the March 2023 incident, a car containing the men and another vehicle were damaged, but the men were unharmed.
Former NBA Star Faces Imprisonment
Kemp was originally charged with first-degree assault with a weapon. Prosecutors added another assault charge last week, as well as a charge of drive-by shooting, the Seattle Times reported.
Sentencing is scheduled for August. Deputy Prosecutor Thomas Howe recommended a nine-month jail sentence and a year of supervision by corrections officials after release, as well as payment of damages.
Kemp Does Not Comment, Lawyer Speaks of Self-Defense
Kemp, a six-time NBA All-Star who played for the Seattle SuperSonics from 1989 to 1997, declined to comment to the newspaper.
“Shawn is determined to continue in a positive direction,” Kemp’s lawyer Tim Leary told the Times. “He received an offer from the state that allows him to take responsibility, but I think it also recognizes the self-defense nature of what happened.”
Theft of NBA Fan Merchandise Apparently Preceded the Incident
According to court documents filed by Kemp’s lawyers, Kemp and several employees of his cannabis business were at a concert venue in Seattle when his car was broken into on March 8, 2023.
An employee’s purse was stolen, as well as keys to Kemp’s business, a cell phone, documents, and sports memorabilia, including game jerseys of Gary Payton and Kemp that were to be auctioned off for charity, the defense brief states.
Using a cell phone tracking app, Kemp was able to locate the driver of the getaway car and briefly tried to talk to him while the vehicle was circling in a casino parking lot. The men in the vehicle then threw away some of Kemp’s belongings but kept the cell phone. Kemp later saw that his cell phone was near the Tacoma Mall. He drove there, spotted the same car, and “expressed his understandable frustration” to the driver.
Shootout in a Supermarket Parking Lot
The defense claims that a man in the back seat “fired a shot at Mr. Kemp from a handgun. Mr. Kemp returned fire.” The people who were shot at fled, and when the vehicle was found abandoned days later, an empty holster was found, but no weapon, the documents say.
Career of Shawn Kemp
Kemp debuted in the NBA during the 1989-90 season as a 20-year-old who had never played college basketball. Among other things, he played for a long time with the German NBA pioneer Detlef Schrempf.
Kemp also played for Cleveland, Portland, and Orlando and was known for his spectacular dunks.