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.
Criminals are made not born.
When an example is made of someone, one thinks twice before doing the same thing.
You know that when you touch a hot stove you are going to be burned.
If you know the consequences, you won't touch the stove.
Not always.
Some sociopaths are born.
I thought about that too. 3am, leaving a bar - she was most likely tanked and did not have a clear mind to assess the situation.
The reality in America is, the more and tougher gun laws you institute, the more the crime rate goes up. New York City has some of the most strict gun laws in the country, but that didn't deter some young punk to murder an aspiring actress at 3 in the morning.
Darwin Award candidate. ....Shut mouth, give wallet, run.
Just read your tagline. You're doing great!
I know that meth is the new scourge on the landscape.
Hehe... that's why you practice the "let me give you my wallet" maneuver. You reach for your "wallet", retrieve your firearm, shift towards cover, and fire. All in one smooth, quick motion.
If you do what someone more-or-less expects you to do, you buy yourself extra fractions of a second. As Heinlein said, seconds are jewels without price in combat.
Pretty sad :( It's not as if anyone came out and said the shooter was wrong or even something like 'ladies don't get drunk. Be aware' Almost immediately the cry to ban guns went out. That's the only downside to living in the NY state.
I think we agree, but I don't know if we know that we agree.
The reality in America is, the LOOSER the gun laws you institute, the more the crime rate goes DOWN.
----That's because criminals know the penalty of their actions may result in their death.
Harsher penalties for criminals Deter crime.
That is why in Switzerland, where EVERYONE owns a gun, there is less crime.
LOL...Yeah, it's been a rough few weeks, but I'm managing. I have to say, the Commit Lozenges really work. Between the Commits and the hard candy, I'm actually on the way to kicking the habit completely. My folks also quit smoking on the same day, and they're having a little tougher go at it. We're all in it together as a support group. LOL
The criminal mind cannot be boxed into one simplistic category such as "harsher penalties will deter crime"
BECAUSE THE CRIMINAL, SOCIOPATHIC MIND ALWAYS THINKS IT'S SMARTER THAN THE COPS AND SOCIETY AT LARGE.
The only downside?
Oh my, I could name many more...
Criminals don't follow the law, that's why they're called criminals. Leave people free to own a gun, and criminals will more than likely leave people the hell alone, because they don't know who's armed to the teeth, and who's walking around asking to be killed.
"She was emboldened by alcohol."
I believe it's more than that. Although alcohol played a huge part.
I have two daughters not too far removed in age from the victim. I have counselled them about this scenario and have told them that money and ego are not worth dying for.
Both have ridden horses and understood this comparison I draw. I told them that just as they are careful around stud horses they must be careful around men. A stallion may do something nasty or foolish in a time of stress(or rut). In their wild state, men are the same way. They cannot be trusted and they are dangerous.
I told them that they are accustomed to law abiding types who will stand almost any kind of abuse without lashing out. But street types don't know or don't care about rules and can do much more damage than can be done to them, and enjoy it.
Naturally, I included keeping distance, keeping eyes averted and running like hell. I showed them how to gouge eyes, break hyoids, stomp toes etc, also. But not provoking a thug was the most emphatic message.
They are outgoing, brassy and used to getting their way. I know they could have been this victim. I only hope and pray they would remember my words if this happened to them.
Well, for being NEW, it is really been on the streets
in CA for almost 30 years.
Hitler was a meth freak.
The German recipe is the cold method.
Takes no cooking.
Yes, the last thing I would do is blame her. But it does offer a regretable lesson for anyone else who might find themselves in a situation like this.
I can name two more Chuck and Hillary. Otherwise, I like suburban living.
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