Wed. Apr 17th, 2024

Seattle SuperSonics legend Shawn Kemp was booked into the Pierce County Jail in Washington on Wednesday.

Kemp was booked into jail in connection with a drive-by shooting outside the Tacoma Mall.

The shooting call came into police just before 2 p.m. Shots were fired from a passing vehicle in the parking lot on the northeast side of the mall near the Courtesy Tire store.

Police said nobody was hurt in the shooting, and that the suspect initially identified as a 53-year-old man was detained at the scene.

Multiple sources confirmed that Shawn Kemp is the suspect.

Kemp is a 6-time NBA All-Star. He was a first-round draft pick in the 1989 NBA draft.

From 1989 to 1997 he played 625 games with Seattle and helped the Sonics reach the NBA Finals in 1996.

Kemp was arrested in 2005 in Shoreline for investigation of drug possession and in 2006 in another drug investigation in Texas.

Since his retirement from professional basketball, Kemp has pursued multiple local business opportunities banking on his Sonics career.

He and his business partners are operating two locations in Seattle of Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis.

The opening of the Belltown location marked 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 shuttered in 2015.

In 2022, Kemp was part of the campaign to bring an NBA franchise back to Seattle, telling The Athletic he wouldn’t stop until the city got “the actual Sonics back.”

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By Buffy Gunner

Independent Journalist + Business Owner | Lover of all things true crime. Mantra: Only YOU can be YOU. | Los Angeles Born | buffygunner@illicitdeeds.com

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