Natania Reuben recounts the night Diddy shot her on the face
Sean Combs 'P Diddy' arrives for the 2018 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. On December 27, 1999, Natania Reuben was shot in the face during a nightclub altercation involving him and his entourage.
What you need to know:
- Natania Reuben was shot in the face during a nightclub altercation involving Sean 'Diddy' Combs and his entourage.
- She survived the attack but suffered lasting physical and emotional trauma.
- Despite threats and bribes, she testified in court, but Diddy was acquitted while Shyne received a 10-year sentence.
Natania 'Eboné' Reuben commanded an astute work ethic and an aptitude of entrepreneurial expertise, which was ingrained in her by her ingenious mother. She was a businesswoman whose quest revolved around her preoccupation with administering two beauty salons, in the Crown Heights vicinity of Brooklyn in New York City. On Monday December 27, 1999, New York City party promoter Big Stacy persuaded Natania to accompany her to an excursion in Club New York, which was located within the famous Times Square in Manhattan.
Club New York, a feat of architectural masterpiece, was embellished with a glistening exquisite interior which was attached to the Lexington Hotel, one of Manhattan's opulent accommodation installations. After Natania arrived, she spotted Mathew 'Scar' Allen at the bar section across from her. She knew Scar through his mother who lived across the street from one of her beauty salons.
She subsequently noticed the arrival of Sean 'Diddy' Combs, the Hip-Hop mogul who wielded an enormous amount of prestige. He was better known then, by his rapping moniker Puff Daddy (Puffy), and was also Bad Boy Records and Sean John Fashion Label CEO. His affluent entourage included his compelling bodyguard Anthony 'Wolf' Jones, his then girlfriend, multi-platinum recording artist and Hollywood actress Jennifer Lopez and Diddy's freshly signed 18-year-old artist, Moses 'Shyne' Burrow.
The entourage bumped onto Scar, whose back was fixated to the walkway, and his drink spilled onto his face. He instinctively elbowed back and, in an instant, a verbal altercation ensued. One of Scar's confidants exacerbated the situation by slapping Diddy on the face with a stack of money, causing the scattering of a confetti of dollar notes into the air as the nightclub crowd jostled for them in an impulsive rampant melee. As Natania watched the pulsating tension thicken, she instantly noticed Shyne and Diddy back tracking while reaching for the guns on their waists.
She was certain the confrontation was about to escalate; her back was pressed against a steel railing that overlooked the dance floor below while she faced the tempestuous crowd. She literally had nowhere to escape and the gravitas of what was about to occur dawned on her. In an instant, Diddy and Shyne retrieved their guns and fired them. Both guns produced muzzle flashes from the sudden release and expansion of bullets.
The bullet that was fired from Diddy, who was directly ahead of where Natania stood, hit her on the nose ridge right between her eyes. The club's clientele scrambled to run for cover and raced out from the trepidation caused by the deafening sounds of gunshots. Natania didn't fall, pass out or cry. While blood gushed from her face, she looked to her side and noticed a motionless man lying on the floor next to the bar and realised he was Julias Jones, the individual who had been shot by Shyne.
As everybody raced out and extensively spread bloody footprints on the floor, Red and Keisha, two women who underwent paramedic training, raced towards Natania. They extracted paper towels in a calm exertion to subdue her bleeding and meticulously nursed her without panicking, with an intention to restrain her from succumbing to shock.
They successively walked her to the corresponding Lexington Hotel, that had a kitchen entrance attached to Club New York. She saw the stunned expressions on the faces of Mexican chefs in white aprons who were backing away from her in horror, as she held the bulk of blood-soaked paper towels to her face.
Suddenly, an Emergency Medical Service Paramedic appeared and navigated her to an awaiting ambulance. The first hospital Natania was astonishingly driven to was St Claire's, a nonchalant establishment that had no sense of urgency in the emergency area where she awaited.
She phoned her mother who bolstered her transfer to St Vincent's Hospital, a Level One Trauma Centre, with a closer proximity to Club New York. She was urgently wheeled into quarantine isolation and the inquisitive surgeon asked her mandatory neurological questions, to gauge the mental effect of her trauma, before performing an emergency surgical procedure.
Also read: Justin Bieber denies being a Diddy victim
In her vivid, concise and articulate memoir, A Shot in the Dark, Natania accentuates the aftermath of her surgery and how the surgeon determined that she was shot by a Hollow-Point bullet. Hollow-Point bullets are designed with a cavity that shutters upon impact with their target and are manufactured to penetrate bullet-proof vests. The one that infiltrated Natania's head, ricocheted and spluttered leaving nine bullet fragments in her face.
A miniature bullet fragment caused a traumatic brain injury that scarred her cerebral cortex and caused a permanent seizure disorder, brain swelling and excruciating migraines. Strange vehicles started trailing Natania's movements, and the District Attorney's office covertly informed her that Diddy contracted an assassin to kill her and prohibit her from testifying against him in court.
Her credit cards mysteriously stopped working as she endured trauma, depression and survivor's guilt, and was consequently moved to a clandestine discomforting location by the District Attorney's office. Diddy's assassins eventually killed her friend Scar and repeatedly attempted to bribe Natania and coerce her against testifying.
In an attempt to procure legal recourse, Natania valiantly testified in the trial against Diddy. He was atrociously acquitted of all his litany of criminal charges on March 16, 2001. His co-defendant Shyne was contrarily handed a ten-year conviction for gun possession and reckless endangerment, after Diddy repugnantly bribed a witness to testify against him. A remorseless video footage of Diddy bragging about shooting Natania, and how he bribed and coerced the jury and witnesses to deviate against Shyne, was leaked years later.
Jeff Anthony is a novelist, Big Brother Africa 2 Kenyan representative and founder of Jeff's Fitness Centre @jeffbigbrother