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Suits: ‘This state isn’t friendly to your business’ after Kemp arrested for involvement in Tacoma shooting

Mar 9, 2023, 12:13 PM | Updated: Oct 1, 2024, 6:10 am

Kemp...

Former NBA player Shawn Kemp at the Reebok Classic Breakout Classic Rap Roundtable at Philadelphia University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Reebok)

(Photo by Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Reebok)

Former Seattle SuperSonics star Shawn Kemp was arrested on Wednesday in Tacoma, Washington, on a drive-by shooting charge, according to multiple reports.

Kemp is believed to be connected with the shooting near Tacoma Mall early Wednesday afternoon. At 1:58 p.m., officers responded to reports of shots fired in the parking lot of the Tacoma Mall at the 4500 block of S. Steele St. No injuries were reported.

“I’m not entirely sure about here, but he has a history in other states with other stuff. I don’t know if he has a felony conviction, but if he’s not supposed to own a handgun, then it’s illegal possession,” Bryan Suits said on The Bryan Suits Show. “But if he can own a handgun, you’re allowed to defend yourself. If you have one of these iPhones, whether it’s your Renton PD or your King County Sheriff’s Department, what confidence do you have that it would be a priority that they’d go chase it down?”

Seattle’s KIRO 7 published a video of the alleged incident Wednesday evening, capturing Kemp’s verbal confrontation with another man in the Tacoma mall parking lot.

The Porsche captured on video at the scene is registered to Kemp, according to KIRO 7. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department later confirmed Kemp was arrested in connection with the shooting.

“But that’s the thing, if you are going to do retail marijuana, you learn real early that this state isn’t friendly to your business,” Suits said. “It says it is, it legalized it, but he can’t bank. There’s a lot of cash in there. Kids are robbing stores like yours for cash or weed. Anyway, I got to say it for juror’s sympathy unless they just make it go away.”

The former six-time NBA all-star expanded his cannabis business last month when he opened his second dispensary, this time located in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood.

Listen to Suits’ full conversation on Shawn Kemp’s arrest:

Listen to the Bryan Suits Show weekday mornings from 6 – 9 a.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Suits: ‘This state isn’t friendly to your business’ after Kemp arrested for involvement in Tacoma shooting