More accusations leveled at Morant
Grizzlies star accused of threatening mall security
The security director at the Wolfchase Galleria said he felt threatened by Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant and his “associates” in an incident report filed last July.
According to the report, someone’s mother was in a dispute with an employee inside The Finish Line shoe store. She was asked to leave the store and called her son, which was when Ja Morant and the group arrived at the mall. The incident report does not specify whose mother was involved in the initial dispute, but The Washington Post reported Wednesday that it was Morant’s mother.
The person who asked for the incident report to be filed, the director of security at the mall, said the group of between nine and 10 people were refusing to leave the parking lot.
Officers from the Memphis Police Department arrived and asked Morant and the group to leave, which was when the security director walked across the sidewalk and told the group to leave.
“The demands from the [security director] angered suspect #1, and they began to have a verbal confrontation,” the report said. Ja Morant, although named in the report, was not named as a suspect.
“Officer Edwards positioned his body in between the two individuals to prevent a physical altercation. At this time, suspect #1 reached over Officer Edwards’ shoulder and conducted an unknown action, resulting in both individuals taking an aggressive fighting stance.”
The officer did not see what had happened since his back was to “suspect #1,” who is never named, but the report says the person pushed the security director in the head.
The rest of the group, including Morant, “talked the suspect into leaving the parking lot,” the report said. There were
no injuries during the incident.
However, the report alleges Morant said, “Let me find out what time he get off,” which the security director cited as the cause of feeling threatened.
The Memphis Grizzlies did not respond to a request for comment.
Mall incident happened before Ja Morant punched teen
The incident at the mall happened about four days before Morant was accused of punching a teenager during a basketball game on June 26, 2022. That incident, which took place at Morant’s home, was confirmed by both the Grizzlies guard and the teen — whose name was redacted.
The teen told police at the time that Morant “struck” him with a closed fist, knocking the teen to the ground, where Morant “continued sticking him while on the ground.”
According to the report, the teen had thrown a basketball at Morant, hitting him in the face.
“[The teen] threw the ball at [Morant], intentionally hitting him in the face, and began to approach [Morant] as if he wanted to fight,” Morant’s statement to police said. “Suspect Morant advised he struck [the teen] in self-defense... Morant advised the incident was immediately broken up by spectators on scene.”
Morant told law enforcement the teen, as he was escorted away, threatened to “light his house up.”
The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office said it declined to press charges in the incident, citing a lack of evidence to prosecute.
“The DA’S office is aware of the incident, and after careful review of the facts, decided that there was not enough evidence to proceed with a case,” Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said in a written statement. “We cannot comment on a pending lawsuit.”
Criminal charges do not appear in criminal court records relating to the case, and there are no current lawsuits publicly available in circuit court records.
“The July 26th incident was purely self defense,” Jim Tanner, Morant’s agent, said in a statement to The Commercial Appeal. “Again, after this was fully investigated by law enforcement, they came to the decision not to charge Ja with any crime. Any of the dozens of witnesses will confirm Ja acted in selfdefense.”
Damichael Cole contributed to this report.