BREAKING: Charges against Shawn Kemp dropped after arrest in connection with Tacoma shooting

In a statement to ESPN, Kemp's lawyer W. Scott Boatman explained that the former basketball player's vehicle had been broken into on Tuesday night, with thieves making off with some of his belongings, including an iPhone.

Via the phone's tracking capabilities, Kemp eventually located the suspects parked at a Tacoma shopping mall and confronted them in their vehicle. The group shot at Kemp, at which point he "returned fire in self-defense."

"There was not a drive by shooting as previously reported," Boatman proclaimed, "and Mr. Kemp's actions were reasonable and legally justified."

He went on to explain that Kemp even stayed at the scene to assist law enforcement with the matter. Nonetheless, he was arrested and booked on suspicion of a felony drive-by.

According to Washington state law, the term drive-by shooting includes any discharge of a firearm by someone in a vehicle or near one in which the shooter or weapon was transported.

Following the news that charges had been dropped, Human Events Daily host Jack Posobiec slammed the media for lying about the case, accusing outlets of purposely using sensationalized headlines to get clicks, .

"This is what the media does," he lamented. "They take somebody, and they go and paint a picture, and they assume that you're not gonna watch the video, they assume that you're not gonna look into anything beyond the first headline, and they want to control your mind."

This is a breaking story and will be updated.