Son of basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was charged on Monday in the stabbing of a neighbor during a dispute over a trash can earlier this year.
What We Know:
- Adam Abdul-Jabbar, 28, is accused of stabbing his 60-year-old neighbor during an incident on June 9, according to the Orange County, California’s district attorney’s office. Abdul-Jabbar is accused of using a large hunting knife and fracturing the man’s skull during the encounter. The victim, who was not identified, suffered major blood loss and collapsed outside the emergency room where his wife drove him, a statement from the DA’s office said.
- Abdul-Jabbar was charged with three felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a dirk or dagger, and three enhancements of inflicting great bodily injury. According to the DA, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The victim has also filed a civil suit against Abdul-Jabbar claiming he nearly died from blood loss after the attack.
- Recounting the incident, the DA’s office said the dispute between Abdul-Jabbar and his neighbor began after the neighbor, who shares a driveway with Abdul-Jabbar, confronted Abdul-Jabbar when he didn’t take in trash cans for an elderly roommate. Abdul-Jabbar is accused of then stabbing the man multiple times, including in the back of his head, which caused the man’s skull fracture and brain bleeding.
- In a statement made by Abdul-Jabbar’s attorney, Shawn Holley, said it was the “complaining witness” who “initiated the altercation and it was Mr. Abdul-Jabbar who contacted the police to report it.” Holley added, “for these reasons and many more, we are disappointed that this case was filed, but stand ready to address the charges in court.”
- “A dispute between neighbors should never escalate to violence, much less the ruthless nature of this attack,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “Violence of any kind will not be tolerated in Orange County and those who choose to inflict violence on others will be prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office to the fullest extent of the law.”
Abdul-Jabbar was released from jail on June 11 on $25,000 bond and he is scheduled to be arraigned September 9.
