Former NBA Player Shawn Kemp pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a first-degree assault charge which came from an alleged altercation with another man in March. Canadian Press reports.
Kemp was accused of shooting a man while wanting to get back a cell phone he said was stolen from him.
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Shawn and his lawyers have argued that the player was defending himself and only returned fire. However, Tacoma police maintain “some of his statements were not corroborated by surveillance video, and that just 13 minutes before he arrived at the mall, he sent a text message saying, ‘I’m about to shoot this [expletive],'” according to that report.
Kemp narrated that he only went to his car to get a gun after he was shot at. Surveillance video seemed to show Kemp holding the gun already when he moved to a Toyota 4Runner, which police allege he had tracked his phone that day.
“Kemp was adamant in his interview that he had retreated to his vehicle after he was shot at, and then shot back at the 4Runner,” a detective wrote in the charges filed against Kemp. “However, the video clearly showed Kemp getting the revolver out of the backpack as soon as he gets out of his Porsche.”
Shawn allegedly fired three shots and threw his gun into a bush before the driver of the 4Runner drove away.
Furthermore, Sara Jean Green from the Seattle Times reported that “prosecutors also charged a firearm enhancement that, if proven, would add a mandatory five years to any potential prison sentence.”
Kemp was arrested at the time of the alleged incident but let go the following day.
Shawn Kemp played 14 seasons in the NBA with the Seattle Supersonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Orlando Magic. He was an All-Star six times and an All-NBA second-team selection three times.
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