TACOMA, Wash. – Prosecutors have charged former SuperSonics star Shawn Kemp with first-degree assault following a parking lot shooting last month.

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.

In a written statement sent by defense attorney Tim Leary on Friday, Kemp’s legal team said he would plead not guilty.

A probable cause statement by Tacoma police, filed in Pierce County Superior Court on Friday, did not indicate Kemp was shot at.

It said some of his statements were not corroborated by surveillance video, and that an incriminating text message sent just 13 minutes before he arrived at the mall showed his intent.

Kemp was a six-time NBA all-star and played for the Seattle SuperSonics from 1989 to 1997.

He is due to be arraigned May 4.