NBA Star's House Robbed While Wife and Children Hid in a Closet

Former NBA player Vince Carter didn't exactly have the best Father's Day. According to police records, Carter's $7 million Atlanta home, located in an affluent Buckhead neighborhood, was burglarized while his wife and children hid in a bedroom closet on Sunday evening. The former Atlanta Hawk's star lost nearly $100,000 in cash, but luckily his wife and children were unharmed.

Carter's wife, Sondi Carter, called 911 and texted their neighborhood watch from inside the closet she was hiding in with her two sons after hearing a commotion from the front of the house. Officers from the Atlanta Police Department responded to the burglary call on Sunday night. Sondi told police that while she was lying in bed with her twin sons, she heard loud noises just before midnight. "Ms. Carter stated that she took her sons and hid in their bedroom closet as she heard the unknown suspects gain entry into her home. Ms. Carter stated she could hear the unknown suspects come upstairs and rummage through their belongings in different rooms while she hid," according to the incident report obtained by USA Today.

It appears that the suspects gained entry into the house through a first-floor window that police found completely smashed in. Many rooms in the 10,000-square-foot home were left ransacked and a gate at the top of the stairs was broken. Home surveillance footage was turned over to police for evidence, and fingerprints were found, lifted and are being analyzed.

When police arrived on the scene, an officer said she found a suspect described as a black male wearing all black clothing and a mask. The suspect was seen fleeing the home and was picked up by a black SUV and was able to get away from police as they sped off. Yahoo! News reported that police found two guns and about $16,000 in cash outside on the lawn, that Carter said was just a small portion of the missing money from a brown bag he had in the master bedroom closet. They believe that one gun was stolen from the house and the other may have belonged to the suspect. The investigations is ongoing.

Carter played in the NBA for 22 seasons and retired in 2020 after two seasons playing for the Atlanta Hawks. Carter primarily played the shooting guard and small forward positions, but occasionally played power forward toward the end of his NBA career.  Carter was the number five overall pick in the 1998 draft by the Toronto Raptors. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1998-1999. He was picked to play in eight straight All-Star games from 2000-2007 while playing for the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets. After his retirement, Carter signed on as an NBA Analyst for ESPN where he covers both NBA and college basketball appearing on studio shows such as NBA Countdown, The Jump, First Take, Get Up and SportsCenter.

While Carter has retired from basketball, his academy is going strong. They will be having a 2022 Vince Carter Youth Basketball Academy from July 15-17, 2022 at the Vince Carter Athletic Center in Daytona Beach, FL.