The son of basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was charged Monday in the stabbing of a neighbor in a dispute over a trash can earlier this year, authorities said.
Adam Abdul-Jabbar, 28, is accused of stabbing his 60-year-old neighbor with a large hunting knife and fracturing the man’s skull in the June 9 incident, the Orange County District Attorney’s office said in a statement.
The victim, who was not identified, nearly died from blood loss after collapsing outside the emergency room where his wife drove him, the statement said.
Abdul-Jabbar was charged with three felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and other crimes. He faces a maximum sentence of nearly 10 years in prison, the statement said.
The argument began after the victim, who shares a driveway with Abdul-Jabbar, confronted Abdul-Jabbar after he didn’t take in trash cans for an elderly roommate, the DA’s office said.
Abdul-Jabbar is accused of stabbing the man multiple times, including in the back of the head, causing the man’s skull fracture and a brain bleed.
In a statement to NBC News, a lawyer for Abdul-Jabbar, Shawn Holley, said it was the “complaining witness” who “initiated the altercation and it was Mr. Abdul-Jabbar who contacted the police to report it. For these reasons and many more, we are disappointed that this case was filed, but stand ready to address the charges in court.”
Court records show that Abdul-Jabbar was released from jail on June 11 on $25,000 bond.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 9.