NEW YORK — Someone fired a gun inside Club New York before Jamal "Shyne" Barrow pulled out a gun of his own, a witness testified as the rapper's defense case kicked off Friday.

David Cubiletti, a flight attendant who is a friend of Sean "Puffy" Combs' former personal assistant, said Shyne aimed his gun at the ceiling, but it wasn't clear whether he fired. He said the other, unidentified, gunman fired toward the ceiling.

Cubiletti said the shooter was standing next to the man who yelled at Combs before the shooting. That man, previously identified as Matthew "Scar" Allen, threw money at Combs just before the unidentified man fired, according to Cubiletti.

"I saw someone to the left of the money-thrower pull out a gun," he said.

Prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos used part of his cross-examination of Cubiletti to begin his rebuttal of Combs' defense case, which ended Thursday with the rap mogul's testimony (see [article id="1441183"]"Puffy Takes The Stand And Swears He Didn't Have Gun"[/article]).

Combs said on Thursday that as Allen screamed at him, the two men stood eight feet apart, with Combs bodyguard Anthony "Wolf" Jones between them. Combs also maintained that he never saw any money thrown at the club.

But Cubiletti said Combs and Allen were "an arm's length" apart during the dispute. He later added that an arm's length could mean "a few feet."

Combs grimaced as Bogdanos tried to get Cubiletti to concede that the first man he saw fire a gun could have been Combs.

Cubiletti briefly seemed unsure of that man's identity, but ultimately said he was certain the gunman had been standing to Allen's left throughout the dispute.

Judging from Cubiletti's testimony, Shyne's lawyers appear to be focused on clearing the rapper of only the most serious charges against him — attempted murder and assault. Shyne also faces reckless endangerment and weapons possession charges.

More witnesses are expected to testify for Shyne on Monday.

(Click [article id="1438616"]HERE[/article] for a complete explanation of the charges in the case. Click [article id="1439236"]HERE[/article] our complete trial coverage.)