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Ex-NBA star Shawn Kemp charged with assault in March shooting

SEATTLE -- Prosecutors in Washington state charged former NBA star Shawn Kemp on Friday with first-degree assault in a parking lot shooting last month over a stolen cellphone, saying that a text message Kemp sent just before the shooting showed his intent to confront and shoot the person who had allegedly stolen from him.

Kemp was arrested after the shooting outside the Tacoma Mall on March 8. No one was injured, and Kemp's lawyers have insisted he returned fire in self defense after tracking and trying to retrieve a cellphone that had been stolen from him earlier that day.