Rapper Combs Faces 2 Gun Charges New York Nightclub Incident Could Net Star 30 Years In Prison
Sean “Puffy” Combs landed in double trouble Thursday when he was indicted on two tough gun counts that could put him behind bars for years.
A grand jury charged the rap mogul with carrying two 9-mm guns loaded with hollow-point bullets as he fled with girlfriend Jennifer Lopez from a shootout in a Times Square nightclub last month, prosecutors said.
The guns - one tossed out the window of his Lincoln Navigator and the other found under the front seat - had both been recently fired, prosecutors said, although they would not say when.
Combs, who has escaped unscathed from several brushes with the law, could face up to 15 years in prison on each count. The platinum-selling rapper remained free on $10,000 bail, with his next court date set for Feb. 14.
“I am innocent, and we will prove it,” said Combs in a statement last night. “I am putting my faith in God, and I know my name will be cleared.”
Lopez quickly issued a statement backing up her boyfriend’s story. “I was with him that evening. At no time did I see him with a gun,” said the actress. “I support him wholeheartedly.”
The good news for Combs was that grand jurors apparently rejected allegations that he tried to offer money to driver Wardel Fenderson to claim falsely that one of the guns was his.
“The grand jury did not charge on that allegation,” said Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.
Fenderson was cleared of all charges. Lopez was cleared last month after spending 14 hours cuffed to a bench in a police stationhouse.
The only other person in the Navigator was Combs bodyguard Anthony “Wolf” Jones, who was hit with a gun-possession charge related to the weapon found in the car.
Combs was not explicitly charged with waving a gun during the fracas in Club New York on Dec. 27. But Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos nodded vigorously when asked whether prosecutors believe Combs had a gun inside the club that wound up being tossed out the car window.