Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - P. Diddy: Investigating 2022 Recording Studio Shooting

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

A former record producer for Sean "Diddy" Combs claims the mogul and one of his sons, Justin, were involved a shooting at a Los Angeles recording studio in 2022 that left a man wounded. The Combses and the recording studio have pushed back on that claim through their attorneys and social media accounts. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks into the allegation made by Rodney 'Lil Rod' Jones and the shooting with former federal prosecutor Tim Jansen in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.If you’ve used Incognito mode in Google’s Chrome browser, find out if you have a claim in a few clicks by visiting https://incognitoclaims.com/crimefixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5GUEST: Tim Jansen https://www.instagram.com/courtroomchef/CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law & Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A shooting at a recording studio in Los Angeles that left a man wounded. A record producer says Sean Combs was involved in it, while a lawyer for Combs has denied it. I look at what we know about the Chalice Recording Studio shooting. Thanks for joining me for Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. This shooting happened in September of 2022

near a recording studio where Sean Diddy Combs was hosting a writing and producing camp. Rodney Lilrod Jones, the record producer suing Combs for $30 million, has made some serious and salacious claims that Sean Combs and others sexually assaulted him. But among the claims that Jones makes is one about the shooting at the Chalice recording studio. Little Rock claims that Sean Combs and his son Justin were involved in shooting a man named simply G. Jones included a photo of Combs at midnight at the recording studio in his suit and claims there's been a, quote, massive cover-up regarding the shooting because of statements made by Combs' attorney, Sean Hawley, and a lack of information from the LAPD. Now, for its part, the LAPD has

confirmed to me that officers responded to the area of the recording studio for a report of a shooting, but won't say much more than that. Rodney Jones claims in his lawsuit that he heard gunshots that night coming from a bathroom where G, a friend of Justin Combs, was shot. Jones claimed the bathroom door opened and, quote, Mr. Combs and Jay Combs exited and G was lying on the restroom floor in a fetal position holding his stomach and bleeding out of his torso and leg slash hip area. Little Rod's suit claimed, quote, Mr. Combs forced Mr. Jones to lie to the police by telling them that G was shot standing outside the studio by a drive-by assailant. So that's a lot of information. Little Rod claims Combs and his son Justin were involved in shooting

G and left him in the bathroom and then told people to tell police that they had nothing to do with it. For its part, Chalice Recording Studios sent an Instagram message days after Little Rod's suit was first filed, stating, quote, the shooting occurred a half a block away from Chalice and it was a result of a robbery. They also said that there are police reports to back that up. There's no question that Sean Combs was at the recording studio that night. He was there hosting that writing camp and posted about it on his social media account. But claiming he was involved in a shooting is a completely different matter. And his lawyer, Sean Hawley, has said it wasn't true, telling TMZ,

we have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies. Our attempts to share this proof with Mr. Jones's attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, have been ignored as Mr. Blackburn refuses to return our calls. We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them. Now, I've reached out to Sean Hawley, but my emails and phone call have not been returned. A source with knowledge of the shooting tells me three people were charged in the shooting about a month after it happened on November 17th of 2022, and that it was part of a string of robberies in the area. I'm still working to confirm that information with the LA County DA's office and LAPD.

This is a law and crime legal alert. Google Incognito tracked users browsing data without their knowledge. Mass Tort Alliance, one of our legal sponsors, is helping users like you file for compensation because Google misled users about the privacy of their Incognito browser. If you've used Google incognito browser. If you've used Google incognito anytime since 2016, you can start your claim by answering fewer than 10 questions. It's that easy. Just log on to incognitoclaims.com slash crime fix. Tim Jansen is a former federal prosecutor. Tim, what is your first reaction to Little Rod making this salacious allegation about this shooting that it was actually Sean Combs and his son, Justin, who

were the perpetrators or at least were involved in it in the bathroom, not outside the recording studio? Well, it is interesting that three people went into the bathroom and two people came out and one was shot. G was shot on the ground. So obviously, unless G shot himself, either Combs or his son shot G. The crime scene should have been able, any law enforcement would have been able to tell that the crime scene occurred in the bathroom, not outside by a drive-by shooting. The LAPD is not saying anything about whether somebody was arrested for this, but sources with knowledge of this matter claim that there were three people arrested for a string of robberies in the area and that this was one of them. We're still working to verify that information. The police aren't saying anything about whether that's true. I've looked on the clerk of court's website for LA County. I'm not seeing a charge related to

this specific robbery. So that's a big conflict between some people saying there were arrests related to this on November 17th of 2022. That would have been a little more than a month after the robbery. And then Little Rod saying, no, this didn't happen outside. This didn't, as they're saying, it happened inside. And I have witnesses who will testify to it. So where's the truth in this? Who's telling the truth? Somebody's got to be lying here. Well, both can't be true, right? We believe the crime scene occurred in the bathroom. Even if someone did commit robberies, this should be an attempted murder charge, not just a robbery.

It didn't look like any valuables were taken. We haven't seen any names of anybody charged with attempted murder. In his sworn complaint, he claims he has witnesses who will verify what happened, where it happened. That's important information. But they did. Apparently, he admitted he lied to the police when the police came, and he was instructed to do so by Combs. So you might have witnesses that lied to the police, and they may not have showed up for 45 minutes. Who knows?

And maybe they walked the guy outside to get to the ambulance. Or maybe the, we don't know. Those are all factors we need. We need to get the ambulance report, right? And we do have a records request. I want to say that, a records request into the LAPD. Requesting these records. They've acknowledged our request, but haven't yet released the documents for the report

and things of that nature. The Chalice Recording Studio, though, put out an Instagram message saying the shooting occurred half a block away from Chalice and it was a result of a robbery. There are police reports corroborating this. Please wait for facts to come out before you start contributing to the defamation of our organization. So Chalice had sent this message out to somebody saying this right after this lawsuit by Little Rod was filed. So they're saying it's not true that the shooting happened inside the recording studio. They're basically saying the same thing as Sean Combs' attorney, Sean Hawley, who had told some other media outlets that this happened,

you know, down the street from the recording studio and G came in to the recording studio. So how do we make sense of all of this? Okay, so let's take their facts as they're giving them. Where'd those pictures come from? How are those pictures with blood in the bathroom? Okay, those are pictures taken. Is that another shooting that occurred? They're saying it didn't even occur outside their building.

What, they carried him into the building, into the bathroom, then called the ambulance? It doesn't add up. You know, crime scenes usually tell you a lot. None of that adds up with their story or the story he's given. His is more consistent with the pictures. Now, are the pictures true? Are they real?

And I think the LAPD or the EMTs that showed up, put him in the ambulance, where was he taken? You got HIPAA violations, right? But where was the person picked up? In the club, outside the club, or a block down the club. Well, we should have body camera footage of that, especially if the police arrived right around the same time and they're responding to a shooting along with the paramedics and the fire department. So a lot of facts in dispute here. We're still waiting to get some firm word from the LAPD about how they view this incident.

Do you expect, if there were arrests in this case, as sources with knowledge of it contend, do you anticipate them taking a closer look at this, Tim? Maybe taking a second look at it based on this complaint filed by Little Rod? Well, Little Rod's got a little problem, right? Because Little Rod is in financial gain, right? Little Rod himself lied to the police when he said the shooting occurred outside. Little Rod has motive to lie. So he needs to have some documentation or witnesses, something to back it up. When was that photo taken? What's the timestamp on the phone? And then if they can get geo-tracking where that phone was when the photo took place, I don't know if they can differentiate inside the club or a block away, but he's got problems. You got witnesses who probably don't want to come forward. It's been two years.

And sometimes you have no credibility. It's hard to change a report if you don't have witnesses. Yeah, most certainly. There's a lot of people with issues involved in this case. As I said, Sean Combs maintaining through his lawyer that he was not involved in this. We've reached out. She has not returned our calls. And Little Rod's lawyer, I've reached out to him as well, has not returned my calls or my emails. So there's a lot going on and we'll keep everybody posted. Thanks so much, Tim. Sure. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Janette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.