Basketball great turns self in after violent westside outburst

Update: 11:30 a.m.

Today, Holdsclaw has been granted a $100,000 court bond and been instructed not to have any contact with Lacy.

Original Story:

Basketball great Chamique Holdsclaw turned herself into Atlanta police Thursday evening after an arrest warrant was issued for her following a westside Atlanta dispute involving another female basketball player who claimed to be Holdsclaw’s former girlfriend.

Officer John Chafee confirmed to Patch that Holdsclaw, 35, turned herself in and was charged with aggravated assault, criminal damage to property and reckless conduct stemming from a Tuesday afternoon incident involving Jennifer Lacy, 29, and her Range Rover. Holdsclaw was taken to Fulton County Jail Thursday and her bond was set at $10,000.

According to the incident report obtained by Patch, Lacy, 29, stated that Holdsclaw smashed her vehicle’s windows with a baseball bat and also fired a gunshot inside the vehicle while Lacy was in the SUV that was parked on a westside street.

Lacy told responding officers that she was working out at an unidentified church on Ponce de Leon Avenue around noon Tuesday when Holdsclaw arrived saying she needed the SUV’s keys because she had some items she needed in the vehicle.

Later as Lacy drove towards the westside, she said she smelled an odor of gasoline inside the vehicle and noticed that she was being followed by Holdsclaw. Indicating she felt scared, Lacy called a friend and drove to that woman's Hemphill Avenue residence located between 10th and 14th streets.

After both vehicles had stopped, Lacy reported that Holdsclaw exited her vehicle and began striking Lacy’s Range Rover with a baseball bat, smashing the driver’s side window, before breaking the rear passenger and rear windows. Holdsclaw then allegedly stuck a pistol inside the vehicle and “shot at the other door.”

Police said they later recovered a 9mm shell casing at the scene. After firing the gun, Holdsclaw left the scene and there were no injuries reported.

A 12-year veteran of the WNBA, Holdsclaw, of Smyrna, played for the Atlanta Dream in 2009. Lacy, played for the Dream during the 2008 and 2009 seasons and is a current member of the WNBA’s Tulsa Shock.

Holdsclaw was a celebrated collegiate player at the University of Tennessee where she led the Lady Vols to three national championships in the late 1990s. One of only a few four-time Kodak All-Americans, she was the No. 1 selection in the 1999 WNBA draft and last played in the league in 2010.

An Olympic gold medlaist, Holdsclaw has been open about her battle with depression during her early years in professional basketball and described such in her autobiography, “Breaking Through: Beating The Odds Shot After Shot.” She also writes in the book that she attempted suicide on one occasion.

She is a spokeswoman for Active Minds, an organization according to its website that is “dedicated to empowering students to speak openly about mental health in order to educate others and increase help seeking.”

Last month, West Orange Patch in New Jersey reported on an event that Holdsclaw attended in which she described her battle with depression and her journey from being a mental health patient to an advocate for others.

"Since 2006 I've used my voice and I share my testimony to give people hope and courage," she told a group of New Jersey mental health professionals and legislators.