Former NBA player Shawn Kemp was booked in an alleged drive-by shooting in Washington. Sources close to the former Seattle SuperSonics player claim the shooting was self-defense. Find out what happened inside…
Former Seattle SuperSonics player Shawn Kemp has been booked into Pierce County Jail in connection with a drive-by shooting that occurred outside Tacoma Mall.
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
Although initially identified as a 53-year-old suspect, multiple sources have confirmed that Kemp is the suspect.
Kemp was arrested and taken into custody at a Pierce County jail on Wednesday afternoon. The arrest followed an incident that occurred at around 1:58 p.m. near a Tacoma mall, where shots were fired during an altercation between the drivers of two cars, as reported.
According to sources close to Kemp, the shooting was in self-defense, as he had tracked his iPhone to Tacoma after his car was broken into and property stolen on Tuesday. When he approached the vehicle, a suspect allegedly shot at him, and he fired back in self-defense. Police have reported that nobody was hurt in the shooting.
There’s video footage of a man believed to be Shawn Kemp pulling the trigger of a gun circulating online. Watch below:
Video of Shawn Kemp pulling the trigger pic.twitter.com/JMfTxdV8Vl
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) March 9, 2023
More information about the case will be made available on Thursday.
Twitter is having a field day with playful jokes about Shawn Kemp, amidst reports about Ja Morant’s recent gun antics. Peep reactions below:
the NBA reading Shawn Kemp and Ja Morant their scripts pic.twitter.com/Nx59vlCt39
— Mamba (@MambaSZN) March 9, 2023
Nobody:
Shawn Kemp at 1:58 p.m: pic.twitter.com/LbIVHbyHql
— Post (@PalmBeach_Post) March 9, 2023
Was ja in the passenger seat
— LeCron (@lecrons) March 9, 2023
Ja Morant, Shawn Kemp, and Karl Malone in the prison league pic.twitter.com/uknSdRJ0vQ
— SnB (@DPOYDort) March 9, 2023
Shawn Kemp way too old to be playing in these streets like this. *tsk tsk*
— AustinWestmoore (@SirWestmoore) March 9, 2023
Footage of Shawn Kemp as a child has emerged: pic.twitter.com/RcSYxnEE89
— CamFL (@CamCWFL) March 9, 2023
So unserious.
Kemp was a 6-time NBA All-Star and a first-round draft pick in the 1989 NBA draft. He played 625 games with Seattle from 1989 to 1997, helping the Sonics reach the NBA Finals in 1996.
Kemp has had previous legal troubles, having been arrested for drug possession in 2005 in Shoreline and for another drug investigation in Texas in 2006. Since he retired from professional basketball, Kemp has pursued multiple local business opportunities, including two locations of Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis in Seattle. The Belltown location is the first black-owned marijuana dispensary in Seattle.
Kemp was also the owner of Oskar’s Kitchen, a sports bar in Lower Queen Anne, that closed in 2015.
In 2022, Kemp was part of the campaign to bring an NBA franchise back to Seattle. He stated that he would not stop until the city got “the actual Sonics back.”
Photos: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
