Remy Ma, Victim Tell Very Different Stories About Shooting

[Damien J.]

On Monday, Remy Ma denied shooting her friend Makeda Barnes-Joseph outside a New York nightspot on Saturday night.

"I didn't shoot my friend!" Ma yelled to reporters from the second-floor window of her Cliffside Park, New Jersey, home, according to New York's Daily News. "I didn't shoot nobody!"

Barnes-Joseph, however, told the paper a different story from her hospital bed on Sunday. "I couldn't believe she shot me!" she said, referring to Ma. The rapper had reportedly thought that her longtime friend had stolen approximately $2,000 from her during a party early Saturday morning. Ma was arrested in connection with the incident on Sunday and was released on a $250,000 bond.

According to Barnes-Joseph, instead of calling 911 after the shooting, Ma (real name Reminisce Smith) rifled through Barnes-Joseph's purse as she lay bleeding from two bullet wounds.

"What hurts me is that when she shot me she went over and dumped the bag," Barnes-Joseph said. "She didn't even say, 'Oh, my God, I just shot her.' That's what hurt me so much."

Scott Leemon, Ma's lawyer, declined MTV News' requests for comment on Barnes-Joseph's claims and did not go into specifics on any information his client has given him about the night's events.

Ma, 26, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, first-degree assault and weapons charges on Sunday and was released from Rikers Island after her manager reportedly put up his home as collateral on the $250,000 bond. According to the Daily News, as she walked to a Cadillac Escalade about 10:45 p.m. Sunday after her release, Ma warned photographers to get out of her way with a string of expletives and then spat out a wad of gum. She is due back in court on August 14.

The rapper's manager, identified by the paper as Big Joe of New Era Management, said Ma doesn't carry a gun and is not "the kind of person who would shoot someone." He also speculated that Barnes-Joseph was using the incident to seek money.

Barnes-Joseph's mother, Christina Barnes, told the Daily News that she didn't believe Ma's denial. "She shot my child and she knows that," she told the paper. "When the day comes, we'll all find out for sure." She also denied that her daughter would steal money from the rapper. "She doesn't need it and I didn't raise her like that."

According to an account of the altercation given by police, the rapper and 40 friends were partying at the Pizza Bar in Lower Manhattan on the night of the shooting. During the party, Barnes-Joseph briefly held Ma's purse before handing it back to her. As both women left the bar around 3:40 a.m., Ma noticed money missing from the purse and jumped from her Cadillac Escalade into the Nissan Maxima in which Barnes-Joseph was riding and yelled, "Dump the bag!," then snatched the woman's purse and shook out most of its contents before allegedly shooting her twice in the midsection.

In a story that was published just hours after the Remy Ma interview appeared in the Daily News on Tuesday (July 17), the Web site Allhiphop.com posted an interview with an unidentified friend of Ma's who claimed to have been on the scene of the shooting, and gave yet another account of the incident. The source claimed Ma had accused Barnes-Joseph of stealing from her in the past, that the argument took place on the street and not in a vehicle, that Barnes-Joseph threatened the rapper and that Ma did not have a gun.

When contacted by MTV News, Remy's assistant, Jennifer Turner, declined to comment. Calls placed to Barnes-Joseph's father had not been returned at press time.

This report is provided by MTV News