Washington state prosecutors on Friday charged former NBA star Sean Kemp with first-degree assault Parking lot shooting Regarding a stolen cellphone last month, said Kemp wrote, “I’m going to shoot it (expletive)” in a text message just before the shooting.
Kemp was arrested after a shooting outside a Tacoma mall on March 8. No one was injured, and Kemp’s lawyers insist he fired in self-defense after trying to track and retrieve a cell phone stolen from him earlier that day.
The day after the shooting, March 9, the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office told CBS News That it was not immediately filed charges pending further investigation.
In a written statement sent Friday by defense attorney Tim Leary, Kemp’s legal team said he pleaded not guilty: “He is confident that once the jury hears from the witnesses and sees the evidence at trial, they will conclude that he was justified. Defending himself that afternoon.”
Image courtesy of Philip Hulsman/Getty Images
A Tacoma police probable cause statement filed Friday in Pierce County Superior Court did not indicate that Kemp was shot. It said some of his statements were not corroborated by surveillance video and that a text message sent just 13 minutes before he arrived at the mall showed his intent.
Kemp told police that after he was shot, he went back to his car, parked several spaces away to get his gun, the documents said. But video showed him armed as he approached the parked Toyota 4Runner where he tracked his phone.
According to the statement, Kemp tracked her phone to a Toyota 4Runner sport-utility vehicle that was parked near a JCPenney department store. He parked his own car, a Porsche, several blocks away, pulled a handgun from a backpack and approached the 4Runner, the statement said.
He fired three shots at the Toyota and then threw his gun into some bushes, the statement said. The driver of the 4Runner appeared to duck into a shot and eventually drove away, it said. Only five minutes passed from the time Kemp arrived until the 4 runners left.
The bullets that struck the 4Runner went through the front license plate mount, the front quarter panel toward the steering wheel, and the front passenger door.
Kemp is scheduled to be sentenced on May 4.
Kemp, who owns two licensed marijuana dispensaries in Seattle, was a six-time NBA All-Star and played for the Seattle SuperSonics from 1989 to 1997. He also played for Cleveland, Portland and Orlando.
Kemp made his NBA debut in the 1989-90 season as a 20-year-old who had never played college basketball. He became known for his high-flying dunks.