Victim: I Saw Shyne and Puffy With Guns

Feb. 5, 2001 -- Natania Reuben testified today that she saw guns in the hands of rap artists Sean "Puffy" Combs and Jamal "Shyne" Barrow in the moments before she was shot in a Manhattan nightclub.

She recalled the frantic moments before the December 1999 shooting inside Club NY, telling jurors that both men fired weapons. The incident left her with seven bullet fragments lodged in her head.

"I blinked and when I opened my eyes up I just felt like a sledgehammer hit my face," said Reuben, 30, one of three people wounded in the shooting.

"Blood began pouring out of my face," she said. "I just looked up to the sky and I said, 'Oh, God, Don't take me.'"

‘I Heard … Bam-Bam’

Reuben was the second shooting victim to testify for the prosecution in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan. Combs, 31, faces gun and bribery charges, which he denies. His protégé, Barrow, 21, faces three counts of attempted murder. A third defendant, Combs' bodyguard, Anthony "Wolf" Jones, 34, is being tried along with them on weapons possession and bribery charges.

Reuben owned a beauty salon at the time of the shooting and was an aspiring singer who occasionally hung out at the Times Square nightclub.

Just before she was shot, she recalled, Barrow and Combs were involved in a fight with other men. "I saw his [Combs'] arms coming up with a black gun," she said. Seconds later, "I heard … bam-bam."

In a daze, Reuben was trampled as clubgoers ran for cover.

"There was a lot of chaos and people were falling on top of me," she said.

After the shooting she spent five weeks in the hospital, with just one of the bullet fragments removed from her head. Doctors tell her they cannot risk removing the remaining bullet fragments and she now complains of headaches and seizures. She has filed separate lawsuits against the three defendants, including a $150 million complaint against Combs.

Reuben is the first witness to testify that Combs, a Grammy-winning performer and producer, fired a gun in the nightclub.

On Friday, college student Tarnisha Smith testified that she saw Combs holding a gun. But under cross-examination by defense attorney Benjamin Brafman, Smith said she didn't remember many details of the incident. While she said she thought she saw a gun, she acknowledged it was a long time ago.

Reuben stuck to her story during cross-examination. Brafman attempted to discredit her by referring to previous legal problems. He asked if she had ever been arrested in Ohio, and questioned her about an appearance on The People's Court. She went on the TV show to sue her landlord for cutting off the heat to her beauty salon.

Prosecutor: Clubgoer Insulted Puffy

Prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos has alleged that Barrow opened fire after a clubgoer insulted his mentor, Combs, by throwing money at him.

Combs is not charged in the shooting itself. He and Jones are charged with weapons possession because police said they found a 9 mm handgun in their vehicle, and bribery because they allegedly tried to pay Combs' chauffeur to lay claim to the gun.

Combs' girlfriend, actress-singer Jennifer Lopez, was with him during the incident but does not face any charges. She has denied recent reports that she has split from the troubled rap entrepreneur, who has his own record label, Bad Boy Entertainment, and clothing line, Sean Jean.

Earlier last week, another shooting victim, Robert Thompson of Fairfield, Conn., identified Barrow as his assailant. Thompson said he had stopped by the club to see some friends before the shooting started.

"I heard a shot," he recalled. "I felt my right shoulder burning. I went down immediately … I got hit with the first shot that was fired."

Thompson testified that he looked up and literally saw a man standing with a smoking gun in the middle of the club. Asked if that man was in the courtroom, he pointed to Barrow at the defense table.

Previous witnesses, including Combs' bodyguard Leonard Curtis Howard, have testified they never saw the rap star with a firearm at the club.

WABC-TV reporter Cheryl Fiandaca contributed to this report.