Victim of infamous NYC club shooting insists Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs shot her in the face decades ago, wants to test bullet fragments
The victim of the well-known incident at Club New York involving Jennifer Lopez, rapper Shyne Barrow, and Sean “Diddy” Combs is keen to prove that she was shot in the face by the music mogul and survived.
One of the three people hurt in the 1999 incident, Natania Reuben, is keen to have the bullet remnants taken out of her face so that forensics can examine them. She explained as much last Friday on News Nation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” with guest presenter Brian Entin, her intention to force a reexamination of the case.
“I’m willing to have a doctor remove a part of the nine-millimeter bullet in my face so that they can use it as evidence if need be for this trial, and it may cost me my life,” Reuben emphasized the dangers.
In court, Barrow admitted to firing the gun that night, but Reuben has insisted on his innocence for decades, saying he was unfairly held accountable for Combs. She claims the incident, which happened in the early hours of December 27, 1999, at the now-closed Club New York, which is close to Times Square, left nine bullet fragments in her facial tissue.
Following an argument between Matthew “Scar” Allen, a drug dealer from Brooklyn, and Diddy, who was then known as “Puffy,” and his group, there was a shooting spree.
Barrow, a 21-year-old member of Diddy’s group, was apprehended by police while he was escaping the venue while brandishing a gun.
From 1999 to 2001, Jennifer Lopez and P. Diddy had a romantic relationship. Both were placed under arrest after the shooting incident at Club New York. Lopez was freed without being charged, but Diddy was put on trial and ultimately declared not guilty.
Diddy and Lopez hurriedly drove out of the establishment in a Lincoln Navigator, only to be apprehended by police on Eighth Avenue and taken into custody. Before being released from custody after being detained for 14 hours, Lopez was not charged in connection with the incident.
After a protracted court case in 2001, Barrow was sentenced to ten years in prison. Following the trial, Combs and Anthony Jones, his security detail, were found not guilty of any weapon violations.
Reuben testified that she felt like “a flaming hot sledgehammer had hit me in the face” and that she “saw Mr. Combs… pull out a black gun with his right hand.”
Reuben, a mother of three, has maintained her self-assurance and consistent narrative.
“I literally watched them pull out the guns, I had a clear point of view. I mean, for God’s sake, I got shot in my nose. I was facing them directly. I watched everything occur and have described it, vehemently to all parties involved,” Reuben had stated this past Thursday during an earlier episode of “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”
She is not surprised that some people don’t find her story credible:
“I give very little credibility to what they’re saying because, while everyone else is Monday morning quarterbacking, I am the survivor,” Reuben urged. “I was physically there. Who better to tell you what happened than the person who got shot smack dab in between my eyes.”
Reuben says she fears an early death despite her heroic efforts.
“I’m a healthy woman. I live a simple, quiet, risk-averse life. So, if I should meet with an untimely demise, it would require, be worthy of deep investigation. I understand the peril of what I’m exposing my life to,” Reuben concluded.