Indiana HS basketball star Shawn Kemp, a marijuana shop owner arrested in shooting, freed

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana high school basketball great Shawn Kemp, who went on to become a six-time NBA All-Star, opened his second Seattle marijuana shop last month. Three weeks later, he was arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting near a Tacoma, Wash., shopping mall.

Kemp, 53, who took his Concord High team to the 1988 state championship game as a senior, was booked March 8 into Pierce County Jail and held on a felony charge, according to records obtained by USA Today Sports. The next day, prosecutors announced they would not file charges against Kemp, pending further investigation, and he was released.

According to the Tacoma Police Department, an unnamed male was involved in a shooting just before 2 p.m. March 8 in the parking lot of a shopping mall. "An altercation between the occupants of two cars led to shots being fired at a parking lot. One car fled. No injuries were reported. A gun was recovered," the department's press release said. "A 53-year-old male was booked for a drive-by shooting. The investigation is ongoing."

Records at Pierce County Corrections from March 8 show Shawn Travis Kemp, 53, was booked into jail "on suspicion of a felony drive-by shooting charge."

IndyStar reached out to Kemp for comment, but did not get a response. His attorney Scott Boatman released a statement, telling Kemp's side of the story.

According to Boatman, Kemp's vehicle was broken into late March 7 "and numerous items were stolen, including an iPhone."

"(The next day), Mr. Kemp tracked his iPhone to an occupied vehicle in a shopping mall parking lot in Tacoma. When Mr. Kemp approached the vehicle in an attempt to retrieve his stolen property, individuals inside the vehicle shot at Mr. Kemp, who then returned fire in self-defense," Boatman wrote.

"There was not a drive by shooting as previously reported and Mr. Kemp's actions were reasonable and legally justified. Mr. Kemp met with law enforcement at the scene in an attempt to assist in the matter."

The day after his arrest, Kemp was released from the Pierce County Jail when prosecutors said they would not file charges, adding charges could be pressed later against Kemp, pending further investigation by police.

Top 5 HS player in the nation turned NBA star

Kemp, an Elkhart, Ind., native, was a four-year varsity starter at Concord where he set the program's career, season and game scoring records.

Considered one of the top five players in the nation his senior year, Kemp was selected to the 1988 McDonald's High School All-American team, one of the best classes of all time, that included future NBA Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning. Kemp was also named first-team "Parade" All-American his senior season.

But in Indiana, Kemp didn't reign king. The title of the state's 1988 Mr. Basketball went to Richmond's Woody Austin, the state's leading scorer with a 33.3-point average, who went on to play at Purdue.

Kemp's plan out of high school was to play for Kentucky. He signed a national letter-of-intent as a senior but when he failed to score a minimum 700 on the SAT, he was forced to sit out his freshman season.

"To have Shawn in a college environment without basketball, the one thing he loves, was, I felt, a big mistake," Jim Hahn, Kemp's Concord coach, told Sports Illustrated in 1989. "It even crossed my mind to advise him to go right into the NBA and the only thing that stopped me was the fact that so few players have done it."

Kemp enrolled at Kentucky but left the team in November 1988. According to the Associated Press, Kemp was accused of pawning two gold chains that had been reported stolen from teammate Sean Sutton, son of then- Kentucky coach Eddie Sutton.

Charges were not pressed against Kemp, but he transferred to Trinity Valley Community College in Texas. While there, the 19-year-old Kemp declared himself eligible for the 1989 NBA draft.

The Seattle SuperSonics saw greatness in Kemp, a 6-10 power forward, who didn't play at Trinity. Seattle selected Kemp 17th overall in the first round of the 1989 NBA draft. He went on to play eight seasons in Seattle and then six more in Cleveland, Portland and Orlando.

After his basketball career, Kemp went from NBA star to entrepreneur.

His name across a marijuana shop? Kemp never dreamed of that

In April 2005, Kemp was arrested for an investigation of drug possession in Shoreline, Wash., when he was found with "a small amount of cocaine," about 60 grams of marijuana and a semiautomatic pistol," according to the King County Sheriff's Office.

Kemp was formally charged with drug possession and pleaded guilty. A year later, Kemp was arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession in Houston in July 2006.

Through the years, Kemp has been owner of sports bars and investor in other Seattle venues. In 2020, he ventured into the business of marijuana, which is legal in Washington.

Shawn Kemp's Cannabis, just blocks away from the arena where Kemp became an All-Star with the SuperSonics, opened in October 2020. Kemp said at the time he never imagined when he was leading the Sonics, one of the best teams in the NBA in the mid-1990s, that he would have his name across the front of a marijuana shop.

“If you had asked me to do this when I was playing, probably not. But I think things change as we go and business as we know will also change. And that’s what I did throughout the years,” Kemp said. “I don’t know if there’s a cool way to promote and to do cannabis, but I think here we’re going to be able to do that in a positive and professional manner.”

On Feb. 11, Kemp opened his second marijuana dispensary inside a glitzy, 3,500-square-foot showroom in Seattle's SODO neighborhood.

"The new location gives Kemp a presence on the north and south end of Seattle," reported NBC's King5 News. "The first cannabis store is located in Belltown and brands itself as a welcoming environment for 'cannabis connoisseurs and those new to the green scene.'"

Kemp, who co-owns the dispensary with business partner and general manager Tran Du, told King5 in February, “we really went big on this location and I can’t wait for fans to check it out."

Police have not connected the shooting Kemp was involved with weeks after his dispensary opened to the business. "It's an ongoing investigation," they said.

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Shawn Kemp, Indiana high school basketball star, NBA great, arrested