(NewsNation) — New allegations from the infamous Club New York shooting in 1999 have raised questions about possible legal cover-ups involving Sean “Diddy” Combs, his former girlfriend Jennifer Lopez and rapper Jamal “Shyne” Barrow.
Natania Reuben said she has spent the past 25 years trying to get justice for the night she claims Combs shot her in the face at the club, not Shyne.
While Combs, Lopez and Barrow were all arrested in connection to the shooting, only Shyne was convicted and served time for the crime.
“I didn’t have any reason to believe that someone wouldn’t believe me. But as things unfolded, it was a very short period of time where I realized that’s what was happening,” Reuben said during an appearance on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”
Reuben said that night changed her life forever.
Club New York shooting
Around 2:55 a.m. on Dec. 27, 1999, shots rang out at Club New York in Manhattan. Three people were struck by gunfire, sending all other clubgoers into a panic, according to a New York Times report. The victims of the shooting were reported as innocent bystanders and didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries, the report said.
But while Combs, Lopez and Barrow were all arrested in connection to the shooting, only Barrow was officially charged. Both Combs and Lopez were arrested on possible weapons charges but were ultimately not charged in connection to the shooting.
Barrow faced three counts of attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon in connection to the shooting, the NYT reported. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
However, earlier this month, actor Mark Curry claimed that Combs allegedly paid Barrow for serving the 10-year prison sentence, according to XXL. Curry said that Barrow was paid $1 million in 2010 by the CEO and president of Def Jam, L.A. Reid, to put out a new album, the report said. The album never launched, and Curry believes the money was given through Def Jam from Combs as a cover-up, XXL reported.
“Everything he is going through is basically everything that everyone around him has had to go through. Through prison, through death, it’s a lot of things we had to encounter. It’s the chicken coming home to roost … It’s what happens, it’s karma,” Curry told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo.
“In our society, we have respectability politics. There are people who want to be adjacent to power or a celebrity or money. There’s a hierarchy of respectability because his (Combs) name was more motivated. He was believed, rather than a victim,” Reuben said.
Shooting victim Natania Reuben claims Diddy shot her
Now, Reuben has remained adamant since the shooting that it was Combs who shot her in the face. She said she was facing them when they pulled out the guns and saw Combs shoot her in the nose. She filed a $130 million lawsuit for compensation against Combs in 2008 and settled in June 2011.
“I am the woman who he shot in the face in that Dec. 27, 1999, Club New York shooting. I have told everyone, ad nauseam, since then. I watched him fire the gun,” Reuben said on social media in February 2024.
Earlier this week, federal agents raided two properties belonging to Combs. The properties in Los Angeles and Miami were searched by Homeland Security agents as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation.
Multiple videos from NewsNation affiliate KTLA show authorities moving into the Los Angeles home and placing multiple people in handcuffs, but it’s unclear where Combs was during the raids. There have been several sexual assault lawsuits filed against Combs in recent months.
Reuben says that learning about the raids has been “very cathartic.”
“I finally felt like justice will be done, justice will be mine. And belong to all of his victims.”
Lawsuits against Diddy
Rodney Jones, a music producer known professionally as “Lil Rod,” filed a lawsuit earlier this month in New York federal court saying Combs sexually assaulted him and forced him to have sex with prostitutes.
Reuben told NewsNation that Jones’ lawsuit influenced her to speak up. Once Jones’ lawsuit was made known, Reuben publicized her claims that it was Combs who shot her, not Barrow.
“For the past quarter of a century, he (Combs) has vehemently denied that he was responsible, even though I knew wholeheartedly, and so many others who are in the problem. We all knew he was responsible,” Reuben said.
FILE – Sean “Diddy” Combs arrives at the BET Awards, June 26, 2022, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Combs wants to strengthen the Black dollar: The music mogul is spearheading a new online marketplace called Empower Global that will specifically feature Black-owned businesses. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File) 
FILE – Music mogul and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs arrives at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on May 15, 2022. Spirits giant Diageo says it’s cutting ties with Combs following his move to sue the company over allegations of racism in the handling of his liquor brands, according to a Tuesday, June 27, 2023 court filing. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) 
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 07: Giggs and Diddy perform at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in a special one night only event at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on November 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Sean Diddy Combs) 
Puff Daddy and Jennifer Lopez (Photo by Kevin Mazur Archive 1/WireImage) 
FILE – Jennifer Lopez appears in the press room with the Icon Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles on March 22, 2022. Lopez will be honored for her film and television achievements at the MTV Movie & TV Awards. The network announced Friday that Lopez will receive the Generation Award on Sunday in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
She continued, “When I saw that on a podcast that was analyzing all of the counts, I knew I had to speak. I had no intention of going viral. I was just getting it out of me.”
“It was time, it was time for me to speak. I stayed quiet for the last 25 years. It was my time to speak,” Reuben said.
Reuben has called for her case to be reopened, claiming that Lopez also lied to the Ggrand jury during her testimony. She claimed that Lopez carried the gun into the club and that she lied about it to the jury.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673.