Ex-Sonic Shawn Kemp to stand trial for 2023 shooting at Tacoma Mall

SEATTLE – With jury selection scheduled Tuesday, opening statements are expected to begin Wednesday in the trial of ex-Sonics star Shawn Kemp, who is accused of shooting at two men inside a Toyota 4Runner outside the Tacoma Mall in March 2023 as he tried to recover items stolen in an earlier car prowl.

Kemp, 59, was initially charged in Pierce County Superior Court with one count of first-degree assault with a firearm enhancement. Last week, prosecutors amended the charges, adding a second first-degree assault charge, also with a firearm enhancement, as well as drive-by shooting.

The additional charges raise the stakes for Kemp to face significant prison time, should the jury find him guilty as charged. The firearm enhancements alone would require 10 years behind bars.

When Kemp was first charged in April 2023, police didn’t know a second person was inside the 4Runner, which is why a second assault charge was added, said Adam Faber, a spokesperson for the Pierce County prosecuting attorney’s office. The drive-by shooting charge was added to reflect the potential peril to the public in such shootings, he said.

Under state statute, drive-by shooting is defined as a reckless discharge of a firearm either from a vehicle or the immediate area of a vehicle that was used to transport the shooter, gun, or both to the discharge scene. The latter scenario is alleged in the case against Kemp.

Though the 4Runner and another vehicle were damaged in the shooting, none of the rounds allegedly fired by Kemp hit anyone, nor was he injured. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on personal recognizance while awaiting trial.

Kemp contends he fired in self-defense, returning fire after one of the men shot at him from inside the 4Runner, which fled the scene before Tacoma police arrived, court records show. When the vehicle was found abandoned in Federal Way five days later, an empty holster was found inside but there was no gun.

Prosecutors say Kemp’s account of the shooting was not corroborated by video evidence, according to charging papers. After the shooting, Kemp placed his .357 revolver in some bushes and waited at the scene until police arrived, the charges say. Police found an unloaded AR-15 pistol in Kemp’s trunk and a text message on his phone that showed his intent to confront and shoot the person who had allegedly stolen from him, say the charges, which note Kemp “never called 911” before or after the shooting.

Police later determined three rounds struck the 4Runner: one in the front license plate mount, one that went through the front quarter panel in the direction of the steering wheel, and one through the front passenger door toward the front passenger seat, the charges say. A rear passenger window was also broken and clear acrylic was found wedged in the window track, charging papers say.

“One of the central issues here is whether [the men in the 4Runner] fired first as described by Mr. Kemp,” defense attorney Tim Leary, who is representing Kemp along with attorney Aaron Kiviat, wrote in a trial brief filed Wednesday.

The state did not file a trial brief in the case.

The two men inside the 4Runner, ages 39 and 35, both have lengthy criminal histories and are currently serving prison sentences in other cases. The men, who are expected to testify against Kemp, were transferred from Department of Corrections custody and booked into the Pierce County Jail two weeks ago on material witness warrants, jail and court records show.

The Seattle Times is not naming the men because they were not charged in connection with the alleged car prowl of Kemp’s vehicle, nor have they yet taken the stand.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Michael Schwartz, who is presiding over Kemp’s trial, is expected to rule Tuesday on whether jurors will be allowed to hear evidence the 39-year-old man is currently serving a seven-year sentence, in part for a July 2023 shooting in Renton in which he mistook the victim for Kemp. Though the victim in that case was injured, he declined to participate in the man’s prosecution and so the 39-year-old was not charged with first-degree assault but was instead charged and pleaded guilty in King County Superior Court to drive-by shooting, according to court records.

The 39-year-old also filed a civil suit in January against Kemp, seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life and “other general damages” stemming from the Tacoma Mall shooting, according to the lawsuit. He also claims to have suffered “special damages” including past health care treatment and lost wages, the suit says. A judge on May 2 ordered a stay in the civil case until 30 days after resolution in the criminal case against Kemp.

A six-time NBA all-star, Kemp was a major part of the Sonics’ successful run in the 1990s and later played for Cleveland, Portland and Orlando before retiring in 2003. In 2020, he opened a cannabis dispensary in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood and then a second shop in Sodo in February 2023.

According to the defense’s trial brief, Kemp and several of his employees were celebrating at the Showbox SoDo concert venue when Kemp’s truck was broken into in the early hours of March 8, 2023. A purse belonging to one of Kemp’s employees was stolen along with keys to his business, a cellphone, paperwork and sports memorabilia, including game-worn Gary Payton and Kemp jerseys that were to be auctioned off for a charity fundraiser, the brief says.

Using an app to track his stolen phone, Kemp tried to talk to the driver of what turned out to be a stolen Toyota 4Runner that was circling the parking lot of the Emerald Queen Casino, according to the trial brief. After the brief interaction, the 35-year-old dumped some of Kemp’s stolen belongings on the side of the road but the 39-year-old decided to keep the phone “because he mistook it for a drug scale,” the brief says.

Kemp later saw his phone was near the Tacoma Mall and drove there in an attempt to retrieve his stolen property; he spotted the same 4Runner from earlier and “expressed his understandable frustration” with the driver, not realizing a second man was lying down in the back seat, according to the brief.

The man in the back seat “fired off a round from a handgun at Mr. Kemp. Mr. Kemp returned fire and attempted to disable the Toyota. It did not work,” the defense’s trial brief says.

A police call log included in court records indicates that at least one witness who called 911 reported that two men were firing at each other.