(NewsNation) — The family of Tupac Shakur has hired an attorney to investigate a possible link between his 1996 murder and Sean “Diddy” Combs. But crime scene investigator Sheryl McCollum says the connection has been there all along.

“This whole thing started in 1994,” when Shakur was shot five times coming out of a Manhattan recording studio elevator, McCollum told NewsNation’s “Banfield.” “You ain’t gotta shoot somebody five times to take their jewelry and their money,” she added.

McCollum, the director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, says Combs and an entourage numbering about 40 was also at that studio.

“When they start shooting at him (Shakur) …. Combs and his entourage of 40? Unharmed. Unthreatened. How does that make sense to anybody?”

The Manhattan shooting happened two years before Shakur was fatally shot while driving near The Strip in Las Vegas.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis was arrested last year and charged with the murder. Davis had previously accused Combs of being involved in the planning.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Combs has never been considered a suspect in Shakur’s death, according to a statement made to People magazine.

McCollum, who investigated the crime on behalf of Shakur’s mother, disagrees.

“Both times that Tupac Shakur is shot, he is trapped in something. He’s trapped in an elevator, and then he’s trapped in a car. There is literally nowhere to run.”

McCollum says the commonality between both shootings is that someone close to Shakur knew his whereabouts.

“That, to me, shrinks your suspect pool pretty good. Only a handful of people would have known where he was on both of those days.”

McCollum also says she’s not surprised that the number of women coming forward against Combs has mushroomed.

“When he was denied bond that second time, look what happened with the women. It went from 11 victims to over 120. And I believe that number’s gonna quadruple,” she said.