M arch 21, 2001
Page A 2
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0® Police News/Vancouver
Puffy Combs Acquitted in Nightclub Shooting
B v S a m it i M ai i i
NEW YO RK — RapimpresanoSean
“ Puffy” C om bs was acquitted Friday
o f toting an illegal handgun into a
crow ded M anhattan hip-hop club by
a ju ry that believed the G ranuny-w in
ning m ultim illionaire’s repeated claim
o f innocence. He w as also cleared o f a
bribery charge.
W hen the verdict was read. Com bs
and his attorneys hugged tightly, with
lawyers Benjamin BraimanandJohnnie
C ochran burying their heads against
C om b’s shoulder. Com bs ’ bodyguard,
A nthony “W o lf ’ Jones, w as acquit
ted o f the same charges as Combs.
Rapper Jamaal “Shyne” Barrow, a
Com bs protege w ho had been charged
with attem pted murder, was instead
convicted o f two counts o f assault in
connection w ith the shooting o f two
people in the club following a scuffle
involving the Com bs entourage in the
early m orning hours o f Dec. 27,1999.
It was a stunning victory for Combs,
31, w ho presides over a $300 million
em pire — Bad Boy Entertainment —
that encom passes m usic, m ovies,
clothing and restaurants. He founded
the com pany ju st seven years ago.
The high-profile trial stretched nearly
seven weeks, w ithjurors hearing from
59 witnesses and examining more than
130 pieces ofevidence. Com bs dressed
in a conservative dark suit each day o f
the trial and his m other was in the
gallery behind him.
Com bs was the key defense w it
ness, spending a full day testifying
that he never carried a w eapon on the
night o f his arrest and instead thought
he w as the target.
“ I thought I was being shot at,”
Com bs told the jury. He also denied
offering his drivera $50,000bribe if the
man w ould take the gun possession
rap for Combs. Prosecutors said the
tossed a fistful o f dollar bills
at Combs.
Three to six shots then
rang out inside the club,
sen d in g p an ick ed club-
goers diving to the floor or
charging toward the exits.
T h re e
p e o p le
w e re
wounded: N atania Rueben
was shot in her face, w hile
R o b e rt T h o m p so n an d
Julius Jones were hit in their
shoulders Reuben still has
seven bullet fragments in
her head and Jones has a
bullet lodged near his spine. York courthouse with his mother after being
Nine witnesses later said acquitted on weapons charges.
they saw Barrow with a gun.
p erso n . P ro secu to rs said B arro w
Tw o o f the shooting victim s testified
m issed his intended target.
they also saw C om bs w ith a gun.
Reuben, a Brooklyn hairdresser, was
Barrow was accused o f shooting
the victims, but he was charged w ith a * the first witness to say C om bs fired a
gun, an assertion contradicted by de
single attem pted m urder count be
fense witnesses.
cause he was ju st shooting at one
collateral Com bs offered was a dia
mond pinkie ring given to him by ex
girlfriend Jennifer Lopez, the top-sell
ing singer-musician.
The driver, W ardel Fenderson, told
the jury that Com bs tucked a black
handgun into his waistband before
heading over w ith Lopez to the hip-
hop hotspot Club N ew Y o rk
The two arrived a little past mid-
nighton Dec. 27 after the limousine trip
from tony East Hampton. T he couple
had spent the day afterC'hristmas at his
$2.5 million Long Island home.
Com bs testified that he had ex
pected to party for a while and do a little
networking with other music industry
types inside the nightclub ju st w est o f
Times Square. But trouble began as
Com bs tried to exit the club shortly
after 2:30 a.m. Someone bum ped into
M atthew “Scar” A lien, an oft-arrested
N ew Y orkerattheclubthatnight. After
an exchange o f insults, another m an
Weather
Inside-A
Through’the Weekend
Crossburnings
Condemned.............A4
Sheriff Won't Run;
Criticizes Stein.......A4
Latino Population
Grows.....................A6
Today
Thursday
Mostly Clouly
Sunday
Rain
59°F High
44°F Low
Report on School
Bullying..................BI
Forest Park Pesticide
Spraying Draws
Fire......................... BI
Tiger Wins Again....B3
Friday
This Week
ThoughtfortheWeek
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Monday
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Being a healthy parent means being firm but nurturing,
giving children a decent sense o f the boundaries along with
lots o f unconditional love.
— Karen Shaud
in History
M arch 21,1965 - More than3,000
civil rights dem onstrators led by the
Rev. Martin Luther K ing Jr. began
their march from Selm a to M ont
gomery, A la
M a rc h 22,1972 - C ongress sent
the proposed Equal Rights A m end
ment to the Constitution to the states
for ratification. It fell short o f the
three-fourths approval needed.
March 2 3 ,1 9 6 5 - A m erica’s first
tw o-person space flight began as
G em ini 3 blasted o ff from Cape
K ennedy w ith astronauts Virgil I.
Grissom and John W. Young aboard.
M arch 2 4 ,1989-T he nation’s worst
oil spill occurred as the supertanker
Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in
A laska’s Prince W illiam Sound and
began leaking 11 million gallons o f
crude.
M arch 2 5 ,1965-The Rev. M ar
tin Luther King Jr. Ied25,000march
ers to the state capitol in M ontgom
ery, Ala., to protest the denial o f
voting rights to blacks.
M an A rrested in
Southeast Strangulation
FREE - COMPLIMENTARY - FREE!
SAFEWAY
SENIOR SHUTTLE
introducing a great new service for our neighborhood senior citizens.
FREE grocery shopping "shuttle service" to your nearby Ainsworth & MLK
Blvd Safeway Food & Drug and Renaissance Market...TWICE a Month!
On or around the 3rd and 15th of each month.
This Service is FREE to seniors age 60 and over.
PLEASE SENIORS, GRANDCHILDREN AND INFANTS WILL NOT BE PERMITTED
ON THE SHUTTLE AT A N Y T l M f .
LO O K FO R OUR SPECIAL "RAZ TRANSPORTATION" TROLLEY
Sponsored By:
FOOD & DRUG
/im arUonce
Saturday
61°F High
42°F Low
Metro-
Shuttle Dates:
• March 7
• March 17
April 5
• April 17
• M ay 4
• May 15
Partly Cloudy
A 42-year-old man faces a m an
slaughter charge in the death o f his
girlfriend.
Authorities said Donald Mitchell
Green, 42 called 9-1-1 to his resi
dence at 4220 S.E. 92nd on March
13 at 12:15 a.m. requesting police
assistance. Upon arrival, officers
located G reen’s 40-year-old girl
friend, also a resident o f the ad
d re s s, d e c e a s e d in a sm all
housetrailer parked in the drive
way. The victim has been identi
fied as Karen Lee Humphrey. The
M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty M ed ical
Exam iner’s Office performed an
autopsy and determined cause o f
death to be asphyxiation by manual
strangulation.
Donald Mitchell Green
The investigation is continuing.
Anyone with information is asked
to call the homicide detectives Stu
Winn or Barry Renna at 503-823-
0400.
ftlaA&d
Community Empowerment
“Share the Vision”
fiFRicfln flmtRicnn
chrirbcr of commtRce
OF 0RFG0I1
For More Information Call
the Safeway Concierge at:
503-572-0812
Evidence o f cross burnings
found in SE Portland
(A P ) - S o u th e ast P o rtlan d
resid en ts last w eek d isco v ered
Ku K lux K ian sym bols in a city
p ark and p o lic e h av e found
traces o f b u rn in g crosses.
F ire in v estig ato rs say so m e
one set an eig h t-fo o t cross on
fire and displayed it in the m iddle
o f B rentw ood Park.
D e te c tiv e s w e re c a u tio u s
I
ab out callin g it a “ hate crim e”
b efo re th ey get th e ch ance to
an aly ze th e ev id en ce in detail.
T hey say th e in cident cannot be
co n sid ered a hate crim e unless
it targ eted a sp ecific person.
, P olice plan to w atch the area
clo sely to m ake sure no o th er
signs o f racism ap p ear. T hey
kept the cro sses as evidence.
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