Former NBA star Shawn Kemp being released following arrest

The 53-year-old six-time NBA all-star is set to be arraigned on Thursday.

ByJon Haworth ABCNews logo
Thursday, March 9, 2023
Shawn Kemp arrested on felony drive-by shooting charges
Former Seattle Supersonics star and NBA great Shawn Kemp has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a drive-by shooting at a mall, police say.

No charges are immediately being filed against former NBA star Shawn Kemp following his arrest in a drive-by shooting in Washington, prosecutors said Thursday.

Kemp, 53, was booked for investigation of felony drive-by shooting shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday in Tacoma, online jail records show. No one was injured in the shooting Wednesday afternoon.

Adam Faber, a spokesman for the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office, said in an emailed statement Thursday afternoon that that no charges were immediately being filed against Kemp and that he was being released from jail pending further investigation.

Seattle SuperSonics Shawn Kemp, right, during second half action in Game 1 of the NBA Playoffs at the Oakland Coliseum Arena in Oakland, Calif., April 24, 1992.
Brad Mangin

Kemp, who has two licensed cannabis stores 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 debuted in the NBA during the 1989-90 season as a 20-year-old who had never played college basketball. He became known for his high-flying, athletic dunks.

An artist who goes by the name "Weirdo" puts the finishing touches on a giant mural on an outside wall of Shawn Kemp's Cannabis, the marijuana dispensary owned by Shawn Kemp.
Ted S. Warren

Tacoma police said they arrested a 53-year-old man after a shooting in a parking lot near the Tacoma Mall on Wednesday, but a spokeswoman Thursday did not confirm whether that was Kemp. The shooting followed an altercation between people in two vehicles; one car fled and a gun was recovered, police said.