Jeffrey Sparks, fiancee: "I ran to her and held her head in my hands and begged her to hold on, but she wasn't able to and she stopped breathing there on the street."
Posted on 01/31/2005 8:08:42 PM PST by 68skylark
A 19-year-old parolee who was prowling with childhood friends on the Lower East Side early on Thursday morning has been charged with murdering a young actress who talked back to them as they robbed her companions, the police said yesterday.
The police said that the arrest of the man, Rudy Fleming, came after detectives received tips from people who had heard that he and at least four friends were involved in the shooting.
Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Fleming was openly weeping in the back seat of an unmarked car as detectives drove him away from the offices of the Manhattan South homicide squad.
"It hurts me to know that this happened," said his godfather, Servino Simmon, at his apartment in the Baruch Houses, where Mr. Fleming had been staying near the scene of the shooting. "I feel sorry for the person. I wish that it didn't happen. It's not right."
Although Mr. Fleming was the only person charged in the killing of the actress, Nicole duFresne, 28, of Brooklyn, two of Mr. Fleming's friends were charged in an attempted robbery that took place nearby earlier that morning. Two other friends of Mr. Fleming's, brothers ages 17 and 21, were questioned in the killing but not charged after telling detectives they were shocked when Mr. Fleming pulled the trigger.
Shortly after 3 a.m. on Thursday, Ms. duFresne, who lived in Greenpoint, had just left a bar with her fiancé and another couple when they were confronted by a group of robbers on Clinton Street near Rivington Street. One of the assailants pistol-whipped her fiancé, and Ms. duFresne stepped forward and said, "What are you going to do, shoot us?" her friends said later. She was shot once in the chest and was pronounced dead later Thursday morning.
The murder suspect, Mr. Fleming, has lived in Brooklyn and Staten Island, but has lately been staying with his godfather at the Baruch Houses in Manhattan. He was on parole for a 2002 weapons conviction, when he sneaked a gun into Port Richmond High School and pointed it at a school safety officer, according to Richmond County district attorney's office.
The parole was not set to expire until June 2007. Mr. Fleming's meetings and home visits were satisfactory, and he had a job working at a restaurant, said Scott Steinhardt, a spokesman for the State Division of Parole.
His last meeting with a parole officer was an office visit on Wednesday, the day before the killing. "The office visit was unremarkable," Mr. Steinhardt said.
The police said detectives found two pieces of evidence at Mr. Simmon's apartment: a white scarf that is visible on one of the people in a security video taken near the time and place of the shooting, and what is believed to be the murder weapon, a .357 Magnum revolver.
"I was watching TV before the police came," Mr. Simmon said. "I was lying on the bed with the gun underneath. I didn't even know the gun was there."
Asked whether the police had obtained a confession in the case, Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said yesterday at a news conference, "Some statements have been made."
A police official said the crime seemed to have begun as a robbery that went bad. "They're out there and do what bad kids do when they get together," the official said. "They're looking for trouble and they find it." About the witnesses to the shooting, he added, "If you believe them, it sort of shocked everyone else." The arrests began around noon on Sunday and continuing until midnight, the police said. Mr. Fleming was the last to be arrested, at the ferry terminal on the Staten Island side. His mother lives on Staten Island, the police said.
Mr. Simmon's two sons, Servano, 17, a high school student, and Servisio, 21, were present at both crimes but have not been charged and are being treated as witnesses, the police said.
Mr. Simmon said Servano told him about the shooting. "Apparently," he said, "Rudy went to rob the lady. He pulls out a gun. No one knew he had a gun. He shoots the lady."
Mr. Simmon added: "It's not fair to the people, and it's not fair to me. I don't have enough money to buy a decent pair of pants right now, much less have the money to get them out. All I have to say is, these kids did what they did. I don't know anything. I wish I could change the whole situation, but I can't."
The arrests followed calls to the Police Department's tips hot line, Mr. Kelly said. "They were from concerned citizens," he said. "I don't want to get into it any more specifically than that."
Mr. Fleming was charged with first- and second-degree murder, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon. David Simmon, 18, and a 15-year-old boy not identified by the police because of his age were charged with attempted robbery in the case earlier that morning, in which the police said they tried to steal a man's coat. David Simmon, of Clifton Place in Brooklyn, is a cousin of the Simmon brothers.
After the shooting, the group split up, with some taking a subway to Brooklyn, but they later came back, the police said.
The following day, the police released the video clips of a group of people walking in the area, and the tips to the hot line began to arrive, the police said.
The police called both the robbery attempt and the shooting "crimes of opportunity," with the suspects happening upon their victims. Ms. duFresne and her friends had had several drinks at the bar Max Fish after she finished her first night of work at a new club, Rockwood Music Hall.
Ms. duFresne's friends described her as a tough, fiery survivor of a rape in a bar's parking lot while at Emerson College in Boston.
Her final, defiant words to her killer have led to speculation that she might not have been killed if the group had just given over their belongings.
Mr. Kelly said in a statement yesterday, "Regardless of what the victim said or did not say, the person responsible for her death is the one who pulled the trigger."
At the news conference, however, asked about how people should respond to an armed robber, he said, "If you're in a situation when someone is pointing a weapon at you, I think it's best to comply with the directions of that individual."
On Nov. 27, 2001, Mr. Fleming missed school in Staten Island and was picked up by a truancy officer. He refused to let the officer remove his jacket, and asked if he was hiding something, he said yes and pulled out a semiautomatic pistol, said William J. Smith, a spokesman for the Richmond County district attorney.
He got into a shooting position and aimed at four safety officers, before four police officers, their weapons drawn, ordered him to drop the gun, Mr. Smith said. He did.
Mr. Fleming pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted possession of a weapon and went to prison in the spring of 2002. He was released on June 18, 2004.
The police said that Mr. Fleming might be affiliated with a gang but that it did not appear to have played any role in the shooting.
Colin Moynihan and William K. Rashbaum contributed reporting for this article.
Gotta Love Texas!
I read a lot of stuff about the dreaded mainstream media on this board. It's slanted, it's liberal, blah, blah, blah...basically, it's filled with fairly well off people making six and seven figure salaries, and who don't get out and about as much as they should.
There was a time when reporters were blue collar guys. They got fired a lot. They got drunk a lot. They lived out in Queens or the Bronx. And they basically didn't pull any punches. Now it's a profession filled with guys protecting their jobs that pay for the fancy condos on the Upper West Side.
Gough's was the last bastion of the old timers -- wait, no, Runyon's was, but same difference.
Jeffrey Sparks, fiancee: "I ran to her and held her head in my hands and begged her to hold on, but she wasn't able to and she stopped breathing there on the street."
I will never understand how people who experience death like this go right on TV.
I have been accused of being a Keyboard Cowboy, and I have responded with "I will compare my Rap Sheet with yours"
Sir You have me beat, and I agree punk ass Gangs are merely weeds that need weeding, and I hear they make good fertilizer.
I wondered about that too. One possibility that's still consistent with the details reported in the article is that the killer and his friends might have just been bumming around, when to the surprise of the friends, the killer said something like, "hey, come and watch this", and then pulled out the gun and began the robbery. They could have been too stunned or scared to either leave or try to subdue their friend, and then it was quickly over.
In a case like that, I probably wouldn't consider the friends criminally at fault.
Not to say that's what happened, just saying that there are scenarios where the friends wouldn't have actually been co-conspirators in armed robbery or murder.
On the other hand, if they *were* willing participants in an armed robbery, hang them high, even if they were surprised by the shooting itself.
When it comes to Lamestream Media I imagine it is mostly refering to the Boob Tube, (and/or Graduates of Berkley)
The New Media, is YOU. Love your stories and you are published via FR. More people have probably read about Goughs on this thread than some of those "Reporters" slinging Beers at Goughs ever got with their "Best Story" (Or whatever reporters call them)
You wouldn't happen to be a writer by Trade? (if you are you have failed to chastise all spelling and grametical errors on hundreds of posts that were ripe for the picking, this one included) if not, hey you aren't half bad.
I read the Irish Times every day and I agree that their standards of factual reporting are usually excellent but I'm afraid the bias of writers like Conor O'Cleary, Lara Marlowe (read her today), Paddy Agnew, Eddie Holt etc. simply oozes out. Remember these are correspondents not opinion writers don't get me started on Fintan O'Toole or Vincent Browne. Robert Fisk used to be treated like the word of God at the IT. Kevin Myers is really the only reason why I read the paper these days.
The IT is the only paper I know that publishes letters to the editor addressed to 'Dear Madam' come on, other newspapers with woman editors don't do that that's just barf!
However, the pay sucks so badly, and so few people want to do the work that you seldom see anyone stick with actual reporting for a career, like you used to. Most of the reporters I run into are kids maybe a year or two out of college. They either move to the editorial area or go someplace where they can make some decent money. BTW, I've worked off and on for about five small town weekly newspapers, and I've never known a newspaperman that didn't have a little larceny in his blood.
I've been through three armed robberies in my life. Never had to fire a shot. Never given up a dime
There was something about them being involved in an earlier attempt so I don't think they were innocents in the wrong place. Perhaps the authorities cut them a deal for coming forward or talking. I hope this isn't the case. When someone dies, they should all hang
I never was shot at (except a Daisy pump BB gun battle- I won) but will never forget the feeling afterward where I vowed no one would hold my life in their hands like that again.
When this story broke, I checked the address where the actress was shot and discovered it wasn't far from Tompkin Square where in '68, I had been robbed (knife) at about 3AM. My friend and I couldn't find a place to crash (lots of abandoned Brownstones but we'd done that a couple of times) and were about to hang-up staying in NY anymore.
Your experience reminded me of another 'guardian angel' moment. After I pissed these guys off (didn't want to give up a ring) the knife was shoved really hard into my neck. Anyway, after they split, my friend and I headed in the opposite direction and about twenty seconds later, the park lights went off and now it was really dark. Almost pitch black. (Looking back, the lights may have saved me.)
We were startled by a dude who came out of nowhere smacking a club in his hand, asking us if we wanted to go get those guys. He'd witnessed the whole thing. He wore a hat with one side of the brim pushed up--we later discovered he was a Nam vet. The three of us spent the day touring around and trying to hustle money, walking up one of the Avenues (man, I'd never seen so many people on a sidewalk at one time in my life!). We took advantage of the new Pall Mall Golds being handed out in little four-pack samplers. After we collected enough change to make a phone call, we got some money wired to buy a couple of bus tickets home.
If I ever go back, it'd be out of curiosity only. And I'll be taking the angel with me, I hope.
Send him down here to Texas. We'll take care of him the proper way.What a stupid and senseless act. What are the odds he'll get justice up there? Very low, I bet.
Shortly after 3 a.m. on Thursday, Ms. duFresne, who lived in Greenpoint, had just left a bar with her fiancé and another couple when they were confronted by a group of robbers on Clinton Street .....
ha! Interesting .....
Pointing a gun at a school safety officer is just fine, as long as you don't use your gun to save the life of your child when an intruder threatens.
CAUGHT
A picture of the scum in the back of the police car.
Inset picture of the young woman.
And why were the police not patrolling the area after the first report of a robbery and pistol whipping in that same area.
I didn't renew my home subscription.
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