Ex-NBA player Rice shot at Atlanta restaurant owned by rapper

[October 27, 2015]  By Katie Reilly
 
 (Reuters) - Former NBA player Glen Rice Jr. was shot in the leg during a fight at a restaurant in downtown Atlanta owned by rapper T.I. on Sunday night and was later charged with reckless conduct and possession of marijuana, police said on Monday.

The incident involving Rice, who played parts of two seasons with the NBA's Washington Wizards, began as a "verbal altercation" inside the Scales 925 restaurant and then continued outside with a fight in the parking lot, where Rice was shot in the leg by a man wearing a red shirt, police said.

Restaurant security cameras showed Rice, 24, running from the parking lot after the shooting and throwing a black revolver onto a stairwell before being picked up in a black Porsche, according to police reports.

Rice was driven to a local hospital, where police found marijuana and a passport belonging to him in a bag left near the Porsche, police said. Rice also was carrying $6,000 in cash when he was shot, police said.

Police did not say what caused the incident and did not identify the shooter.

Rice, who played at both shooting guard and small forward in the NBA, was a second-round draft pick in 2013 by the Philadelphia 76ers and played a total of 16 games over two seasons with the Wizards, averaging 2.7 points and 1.5 rebounds a game before being released in January.

Rice also played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA's Development League during the 2014-15 season.

He played collegiately at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Rice was suspended three times before being dismissed from Georgia Tech's basketball team following an incident involving driving under the influence and discharging a firearm while under the influence in which he was charged with permitting unlawful operation of a vehicle.

His father, Glen Rice, was a three-time NBA All-Star who played for the Los Angeles Lakers' NBA championship team in 2000.

The NBA had no comment on the incident. The Vipers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Katie Reilly in New York and Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)

[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.