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No charges for retired NBA star Shawn Kemp after drive-by shooting

Shawn Kemp, the six-time NBA All-Star and Seattle Supersonics legend, will not be charged after reports of his involvement in a drive-by shooting, authorities said Thursday. 

The case's status will be "No Charges Filed" pending further investigation by Tacoma Police, the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney's Office in Washington state told CBS News.

Kemp, who had been booked into the Pierce County Corrections facility, was released Thursday at 1 p.m., local time, according to jail records. 

Tacoma, Wash. police earlier said officers responded to reports of shots fired in the parking lot of the Tacoma Mall Wednesday afternoon.

Officers determined that an altercation between people in two vehicles led to the driver of one of them firing several rounds at the other one.

"The victim vehicle fled the area," the police report continued. "Officers located the suspect who had fired off the shots on Tacoma Mall property and detained him without incident. A firearm was recovered from the scene."

No injuries were reported.

Sky Storm Basketball
Former Seattle Supersonics all-star forward Shawn Kemp, center, at a WNBA game between the Seattle Storm and the Chicago Sky in May 2022 in Seattle. Ted S. Warren / AP

CBS Seattle affiliate KIRO-TV obtained video recorded outside the mall showing a man in red standing next to a Porsche, which the station confirmed is registered to Kemp. Moments later, the man is seen getting in the car and speeding away. Another clip shows the man pulled over by police and being placed in handcuffs.

"I was helping a customer and I heard a couple shots, and the mail lady was coming in and she said, 'The guy in the red vest just shot somebody,'" witness Brandyn Payne, who recorded the video, told KIRO. "And then I ran over there and locked all my doors and started videotaping it."  

CBSSports.com's Sam Quinn reports that since retiring, Kemp's been active in the movement to bring the NBA back to Seattle after the Sonics moved to Oklahoma City. He's operated a number of businesses in the Seattle area over the years.

He also played for the Orlando Magic, Portland Trail Blazers and Cleveland Cavaliers in a decorated 14-year NBA career.

Kemp has dealt with legal problems in the past, Quinn points out. In 2006, he was arrested for alleged drug possession in Washington after, police said, he and another man were found with cocaine, marijuana, and a semiautomatic pistol. Kemp was detained again in 2006, this time in Houston, on misdemeanor marijuana possession charges.

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