Armed robbers broke into the home of retired NBA player Vince Carter in Atlanta while his wife and children were inside and stole nearly $100,000 in cash over the weekend, police said.
Carter’s wife, Sonny Carter, and the baby boy couple hid in a closet Sunday night while burglars smashed a first-floor window and ransacked the 10,000-square-foot home in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead neighborhood, according to an incident report released Wednesday by the Atlanta Police Department.
Sondy Carter told police she was in bed with her two sons when she heard a loud noise coming from the front at 11:50 p.m., according to the report. She caught her sons and the three hiding together in their bedroom closet while they listened to suspects running upstairs and rummaging through family belongings in different rooms.
Sonny Carter said she called 911 from inside the locker and texted the neighborhood patrol.
An off-duty PD police officer in Atlanta responded with a neighborhood patrol and chased an all-black suspect and a mask off the road until he jumped into a black SUV that sped away.
Police officers arrived at the house soon after and found $16,100 of $100 bills spilled on the floor outside the gated house.
However, the refund was just a small piece of $100,000 that was missing from a brown bag that Vince Carter kept in the master bedroom closet, the former Hawks player who retired in 2020 told police.
Police also found a Vince Carter’s Golden Desert Eagle firearm still in her pistol case, and a black Glock 26 with an extended magazine outside the home, according to the report.
Police believe the Glock was left by thieves.
Inside the house, officers found a completely smashed first-floor window, multiple rooms in disarray, and a gate at the top of the stairs with its hinges cut off, according to the report.
Police officers photographed the scene and raised a fingerprint from a side door that the suspects may have used to flee the house. They also collected surveillance video from cameras on the property.
Sonny Carter and her sons were unhurt during the raid.
According to property records, Vince Carter, who played 22 seasons with the NBA and now works as an NBA analyst for ESPN, purchased the home and approximately one and a half acres of property it is sitting on for nearly $7 million in August 2020.
Investigation is underway.
with wire