A woman who claimed Sean “Diddy” Combs shot her in the face in an infamous 1999 New York City nightclub shooting said she thanked God after learning of the rap mogul’s arrest on Monday, September 16.
“I said, ‘Are you kidding me, really?’ [My daughter] said, ‘Yes!’ I just screamed out to God, ‘Thank you, merciful father!’” Natania Reuben told The Daily Beast in an interview published on Wednesday, September 18.
“One of the best days ever,” Reuben added to the outlet.
Reuben maintains that Diddy, 54, pulled the trigger on the gun that injured her in December 1999 at Club New York in Manhattan, where Diddy attended a party with then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez when a fight broke out. Diddy denied any involvement.
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“Under no circumstances whatsoever did I have anything to do with a shooting. I do not own a gun nor did I have possession of a gun that night. I had nothing to do with a shooting in this club,” he said at a press conference at the time.
Diddy was acquitted of all charges in 2001. His associate, Moses “Shyne” Barrow, was convicted in connection with the shooting and served nine years in prison.
Reuben feels she never got the justice she deserved during the 2001 trial, but is hopeful that Diddy’s recent indictment on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering will stick. Diddy has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
“[Combs] was somebody with power, prestige, fame, money, and all of that,” Reuben said. “It was the biblical David and Goliath story. I know my sling and my stone might be 25 years old, but…”
Although Diddy faced no criminal charges, in 2011, he settled a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit brought against him by Reuben and two other victims in the 1999 shooting, per Reuters.
Barrow, Diddy’s former protégé who was sentenced over the shooting, recently spoke out about his former Bad Boy Records boss’ arrest, claiming Diddy “destroyed my life.”
“When I was an 18-year-old kid, just wanting to do nothing other than make my mother proud and make Belize proud and … be recognized for my talent and take over the world. I was defending him and he turned around and called witnesses to testify against me. He pretty much sent me to prison,” Shyne alleged of Diddy during a recent news conference in his native Belize.
At the time of Shyne’s sentencing, Diddy said in a statement, “Shyne’s sentence is unfair and extreme as I know he had no intention of hurting anyone. My prayers are with him and his family. I’m shocked by today’s outcome. I will continue to support Shyne throughout his appeal.”
An indictment unsealed on Tuesday, September 17, alleged that Diddy “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him.”
According to the indictment, “to do so, Combs relied on the employees, resources and influence of the multifaceted business empire that he led and controlled — creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”
Following Diddy’s arrest, his attorney Marc Agnifilo told Us Weekly, “We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children and working to uplift the Black community.”
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Agnifilo added, “He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal. To his credit, Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
Diddy was denied bail twice this week pending his trial. He is remanded to stay at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York until the trial.
