"Clearly those couples had no clue how to behave in Brooklyn..."
For the record, yes, I know that they were from Brooklyn and were attacked on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I corrected that so no need to post any more corrections. Now, that being said, bad stuff can happen to folks who are street smart, too. No one is immune. One would think though that someone in the group would have just said, "Give him your wallet. We don't want any trouble. Here's the money."
Especially in this day and age when three out of four of them probably had cell phones and could have dialed 911 before the thugs even got to the corner. Its just not worth risking your life. Its definitely not worth giving them some preppy, liberal, westchester attitude. The guy probably shot her because he had heard that attitude somewhere before and it set him off.
Cooperate in that situation and work on getting justice later.
I don't think this woman did anything wrong. This happened in my neighborhood and as it was described it could have happened to any of us.
The few times that I have had street confrontations I took a similiar approach. When confronted by thugs I generally cut loose with a string of aggressive absurd obscenities. It has worked like a charm. Most street thugs are at heart, cowards. Theoretically her approach should have done the trick. If you exhibit any hesitation you've had it.