Officers responding to a burglary call at former NBA player Vince Carter’s Buckhead mansion Sunday night found guns and cash scattered on the ground outside after a masked man fled to a waiting SUV.
The dramatic scene was detailed in an incident report released by Atlanta police Wednesday. Although more than $16,000 was recovered from the ground in front of the Tuxedo Park home, Carter told police it was a small portion of $100,000 cash he kept in a bag in a closet, the report said.
According to the report, Carter’s wife, Sondi Carter, called 911 from the home off Northside Drive around 11:50 p.m. after she heard loud noises and believed someone was breaking in. A neighborhood patrol officer, who was also the first Atlanta police officer to arrive, saw a man fleeing the home but was not able to apprehend him.
The woman was not injured, but police said a front window of the 10,000-square-foot main house had been smashed. Outside the window, officers found “a large amount of $100 bills spilled on the ground,” along with a gold Desert Eagle pistol and a black Glock 26 pistol with an extended magazine, the report said.
The Desert Eagle belonged to Carter, according to the report, but investigators believe the Glock was carried by the suspect.
Sondi Carter told police she was in bed with her two sons when she heard the noises. She said she hid in the closet with her children and called 911, then texted her neighborhood patrol. The patrol officer saw a black SUV pick up the suspected burglar, who was wearing all black and a black mask, before disappearing down Northside Drive.
While she was hiding in the closet, Carter told police she could hear the suspect rummaging through different rooms upstairs. According to the report, multiple rooms were in disarray and a gate at the top of the stairs had been broken off its hinges.
Fulton County property records indicate the home is owned by Vince Carter, who played a record 22 seasons in the NBA before retiring with the Hawks in 2020 at the age of 43. The home, which sits on nearly an acre and a half of land, was built in 2016 and sold to Carter for nearly $7 million in August 2020, according to property records.
A real estate listing from that time describes the property as a “family compound” with “state of the art home security.” The security system includes 16 closed-circuit security cameras, according to the listing. A fence also appears to encircle the home, including an electronic gate across the driveway.
Police have not publicly identified a suspect, but the incident report said a fingerprint from the suspect was collected from the scene.
Carter, who now works as an NBA analyst for ESPN, has not responded to inquiries from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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