Posted on 02/03/2005 6:00:06 PM PST by Gondring
As an actress, Nicole duFresne had roles in dozens of way-off-Broadway productions.
But it was an unfortunate real-life line witnesses say duFresne uttered before her slaying — "What are you going to do, shoot us?" — that has brought her to the public's attention.
Authorities have refused to speculate whether the 28-year-old actress and playwright's defiant stand against a bandit prompted him to shoot her to death last week on a New York City street.
"Regardless of what the victim said or did not say, the person responsible for her death is the one who pulled the trigger," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said earlier this week.
Safety advocates, however, have cited the case as a lesson in how not to respond to a holdup.
On Wednesday, the Washington-based National Crime Prevention Council responded to widespread reports about duFresne's last words by circulating a list of tips on how to survive a mugging.
"It demonstrates that confronting an attacker is probably the worst thing you can do," said council spokesman Todd Post.
DuFresne, a Minnesota transplant who had lived in Seattle before coming to New York, listed "stage combat" as one of her skills on her Internet resume. She was leaving a bar with her fiancé and another couple at about 3 a.m. Jan. 27 when they were accosted by a group of youths who had already tried to rob another person earlier in the evening.
Witnesses told police that when the group demanded the other woman's purse, duFresne responded with: "What are you going to do, shoot us?" Police said she also might have gotten into a brief shoving match with the shooter before he fired a bullet into her chest.
Police arrested the alleged triggerman, Rudy Fleming, 19, and two teenage girls they say took a cell phone and credit cards and helped hide the murder weapon. All three have been charged with murder and robbery.
On its tip sheet, the crime prevention council advises potential victims to stay cool and comply with robbers. At the same time, people should take mental notes on what the assailant looks like so they can provide a detailed description to police, the sheet says.
A robbery "is more about power than anything," said Alfonso E. Lenhardt, president of the nonprofit council, known for its McGruff the Crime Dog mascot.
"It's a tragedy, but in this case it sounds like (the suspect) felt he wasn't getting the respect he was due," Lenhardt said. "When a gun is in the hands of a desperate person with low self-esteem, they're going to react that way."
The others charged in the killing are Ashley Evans, 18, and Tatianna McDonald, 14. Two young men were charged in the earlier robbery attempt, while two other youths are considered by police to be witnesses.
A graduate of Emerson College in Boston, duFresne was a founding member of the Present Tense Theater Project and acted with the LAByrinth Theater Co., according to her online resume. She wrote a play called "Burning Cage" with Mary Jane Gibson, the woman with her and her fiancé at the time of the shooting.
"Burning Cage," about two women in an asylum who are targeted for brainwashing experiments with LSD, toured in 2002 at fringe theater festivals in Canada and the United States.
DuFresne's other play, "Matter," is about an amnesiac whose apartment is taken over by a violent and seductive intruder. It was performed in Brooklyn in 2003.
He is making an accurate point. Although in this case, guessing by the names, the perpetrators may not be Black, overall Blacks in fact are responsible for over 50% of all violent crime.
Every person should be treated as an individual tho, no matter what group for which they have no control over, they belong to.
What Republicans can do about it is make sure the guilty are punished and the innocent are not.
Right. .her fault all the way.
//sarcasm//
No I don't mean attention from the law, I mean attention from the media and so on. The lawmen have my utmost respect for what they have to deal with. I remember years ago when I was high school the folks on tv talking about 'ice' and how 'ice' would make 'crack' look like a fad in the long run. I think there will be the same mandatory minimums for meth pretty soon that existed for crack.
The only thing that seperates this late female from any other victim of violent crime in NYC is that she was one of the rising glittery people of stage and screen: An upcoming *star*!
... Namely, just the kind of people we can't stand around here.
Let's all work together to bury this story.
As I said to someone else before, Do you not punish your kids when they do something wrong because they are going to do bad things anyway?
Stronger consequences DETER bad behavior just as they deter crime. Make an example of someone and everyone knows the rules.
Nope it was San Diego for quite a number of years.
It was a crown the mayor and Chamber of Commerce absolutely hated.
Yes, but who is responsible for almost 100% of violent crimes? Poor people. The chances of Oprah mugging me are close to zero.
I doubt that's the reason.
WHERE did I say THAT?
I think it should be classified as a "hate" crime. Put the libs up against their own sick logic.
So you die and I'll live. No problem. She didn't have a gun. You can be big tough person all you want. I will defend myself too but sometimes you need to keep your mouth shut when the other party has a gun and you don't.
True. They gunned down a security guard going home from work and they've yet to catch his shooter. Sometimes you have to tolerate it because it brings attention to a larger issue. Just like Scott Peterson... sick of that case but I really do believe the story helped get George Bush elected.
Why San Diego? Proximity to I-5? Is it coming across the border? What's going on?
btw how is the Del doing? One of my favorite hotels.
LMAO!!
"Ice" is a pure form of meth.
It's clear.
Agree..
Please Lord, never let me see that Amber Frey on my tv screen again.
So sick of it all.
How did a manure salesman killing his wife and unborn child impact the election?
I had a very keen intereste in it but the media loves overkill. One can't deny that baby Connor did more for the pro-life movement than some the bloviating and yelling that goes on.
Why was San Diego the meth capital?
Easy to make, big county, lots of
rural areas not patrolled by law enforcement,
proximity to Mexico, and a HUGE clientel.
The Del is good.
I live in Mississippi now.
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