Shawn Kemp, a former N.B.A. megastar, has been charged with first-degree attack in Washington State, the place Pierce County prosecutors mentioned he was once concerned in a capturing at a mall in Tacoma closing month.
Kemp, 53, plans to plead now not accountable, consistent with a remark by means of his legal protection attorneys, Tim Leary and Aaron Kiviat. His arraignment is scheduled for May 4.
“He has been fully cooperative with the police and the prosecutor’s office throughout this process,” Kemp’s attorneys mentioned in a remark. “He is confident that once the jury hears from the witnesses and sees the evidence at trial, they will conclude that he was justified in defending himself that afternoon.”
On March 8, Tacoma cops arrested Kemp after pictures had been fired in a car park at Tacoma Mall round 2 p.m. He was once launched from prison an afternoon later, after the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office determined to not price him in an instant, pending an investigation. At the time, the police mentioned nobody was once injured in the capturing.
On Friday, Pierce County prosecutors charged Kemp with first-degree attack with a firearms enhancement. In a charging file launched by means of the prosecutor’s administrative center, the police mentioned Kemp was once observed on video surveillance pictures leaving his automotive, disposing of one thing from inside of a backpack and strolling towards some other car in the lot. The police mentioned they discovered a spherical the place he was once status by means of a automotive that had a “suspected bullet hole on the roof.”
According to the police, pictures confirmed Kemp pointing a gun at an occupied car; the police guessed that Kemp had fired on the car’s motive force, who they mentioned may well be observed ducking in the video pictures. The police mentioned that they discovered a gun in the car parking zone and that Kemp informed them he had thrown a gun into the timber.
Neither Leary nor Kiviat answered to express questions concerning the police’s model of occasions.
Another considered one of Kemp’s attorneys, W. Scott Boatman, said last month in a remark to ESPN and The Associated Press that Kemp had handiest returned hearth after being shot at. Boatman mentioned Kemp’s automotive were damaged into and a number of other of his pieces had been stolen, main him to trace his iPhone to the car parking zone the place the incident befell.
Boatman mentioned the folks in the car shot at Kemp after he faced them and Kemp then fired again. Boatman known as Kemp’s movements “reasonable and legally justified.”
In a charging file for Kemp, the police mentioned they had been in a position to spot the motive force of the opposite car, however they have no idea the place that individual is.
Kemp performed in the N.B.A. from 1989 to 2003 and was once a six-time All-Star. He started his profession with the Seattle SuperSonics and likewise performed for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Orlando Magic. Since his retirement, he has opened two hashish retail outlets that undergo his identify in Seattle, the place leisure marijuana use has been felony since 2012.
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