Chamique Holdsclaw, one of the greatest collegiate basketball players of all time who then became a troubled all-star in the WNBA before retiring, is on the run from Atlanta police for a domestic dispute with her ex-girlfriend that turned bizarre and violent.
According to police and the media, Holdsclaw first stalked her girlfriend, current WNBA player Jennifer Lacy, and then bashed in all her Lacy’s car windows. Afterward, Holdsclaw produced a pistol and fired shots into the car before fleeing the scene.
Holdsclaw, 35, of Smyrna, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta is considered on the run and is armed with an unidentified pistol. The warrant is for aggravated assault, criminal damage to property and reckless conduct, police said.
Lacy, who described herself as Holdsclaw’s former girlfriend, told police she was working out at a church on Ponce de Leon Avenue on Tuesday when Holdsclaw approached her and said she wanted to put some items in Lacy’s car.
According to an incident report obtained by Channel 2 Action News, as Lacy drove from the church she smelled gasoline inside her vehicle and noticed that Holdsclaw was following her.
Lacy said she drove to a friend’s house on Hemphill Avenue, at which time Holdsclaw got out of her car with a baseball bat and began smashing the windows in Lacy’s Range Rover.
After breaking the driver’s side window, a rear passenger’s window and the rear window, Holdsclaw produced a handgun, fired inside the SUV and fled the scene, the report said.
Police said they later recovered a 9mm shell casing at the scene. Lacy was not injured, police said.
Holdsclaw was the dream recruit for legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summit who together won three national championships in four years and grew the women’s collegiate game to an all-time high. Holdsclaw, the first pick of the 1999 draft, went on to play 12 seasons in the WNBA, showing both flashes of brilliance that made her a national household name and bizarre behavior that put her at odds with coaches and teammates. Holdsclaw played one year with the Atlanta Dream, in 2009, before quitting prior to the 2010 season.
In her autobiography, Breaking Through: Beating The Odds Shot After Shot, Holdsclaw describes her childhood in the housing projects of Queens, N.Y., and her battle with depression early in her professional career.
Holdsclaw currently serves as a spokeswoman for Active Minds, an organization “dedicated to empowering students to speak openly about mental health in order to educate others and increase help seeking,” according to the group’s website.
Lacy, 29, is currently on the roster for the Tulsa Shock of the WNBA. She played for the Atlanta Dream four years ago.
