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.
Apparently she never even made that statement in the first place. The police have arrested five mutants in this case, and the report today is that she actually said, "Did you get everything you wanted from us?" or something to that effect.
Gosh, if only we would have invested that extra $3 trillion in improving the self esteem of psychopaths, none of this would have happened.
Your odds are even better if you don't go to New York City.
No. . .you just pull your own weapon and shoot them first!
But then again, why not just give in and die on your knees as opposed to dieing on your feet, and given the murderer in this case was very trigger happy, I'd say she was already dead before the robbery began.
Never bring a mouth to a gunfight.
She was probably too drunk to decide what to do. Having a gun would have done her no good in an inebriated state.
Well now Lauralee, you are correct, she didn't ask to be shot, she dared the mugger to shoot her.
She paid the price for having an alligator mouth and a hummingbird butt.
Never show up for a gunfight unarmed.
You're right and this should go without saying, the kid should have had something positive going in his life as oppossed to sticking people up. He and his parents are to blame.
Crap! I live in NYC!
She should have been armed and blew the sonofbitch away.
I like that.
Rinse and repeat
Right. Get rid of those and we'll be left with the white criminals. Then what?
Doubt it. Government can institute more laws and regulations, and criminals are going to completely ignore them. That's why they're criminals.
These people are full of it. Robbery is how these parasites finance themselves.
Music: Leonard Bernstein/Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
RIFF:
Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke,
You gotta understand,
It's just our bringing up-ke
That get us out of hand.
Our mothers all are junkies,
Our fathers all are drunks,
Golly Moses, natcherly we're punks!
RIFF and QUARTET:
Gee. Officer Krupke, we're very upset;
We never had the love that every child oughta get
We ain't no delinquents,
We're misunderstood,
Deep down inside us there is good!
RIFF:
There is good!
ALL:
There is good, there is good,
There's an tapped good,
Like inside, the worst of us is good.
SNOWBOY(imitating Krupke):
That's a touchin' good story!
ACTION: Lemme tell you to the world!
SNOWBOY ("Krupke"):
Just tell it to the judge!
RIFF(to "Judge"):
Dear kindly Judge, your Honor,
My parents treat me rough,
With all the marijuana,
They won't give me a puff.
They didn't wanna have me,
But somehow I was had.
Leapin' lizards, that's why I'm so bad!
DIESEL ("Judge"):
Officer Krupke, you're really a square;
This boy don't need a judge, he needs an
analyst's care!
It's just his neurosis that oughta be curbed.
He's psychologic'ly disturbed!
RIFF:
I'm disturbed!
ALL:
We're disturbed. we're disturbed,
We're the most disturbed,
Like we're psychologic'ly disturbed.
DIESEL ("Judge"):
In the opinion of this court, this child is
depraved on account
he ain't had a normal home.
RIFF: Hey, I'm depraved on account I'm deprived!
DIESEL ("Judge"): So take him to a headshrinker.
RIFF (to "Psychiatrist"):
My father beats my mommy,
My mommy clobbers me.
My grandpa's always plastered,
My grandma pushes tea,
My sister wears a mustache,
My brother wears a dress,
Goodness gracious, that's why I'm a mess!
A-RAB ("psychiatrist"):
Yes!
Officer Krupke, you're really a slob.
This boy don't need a doctor, just a good honest job.
Society's played him a terrible trick,
"Und" sociogic'ly he's sick!
RIFF:
I am sick!
ALL:
We are sick, we are sick,
We are sick sick sick,
Like we're sociologically sick!
A-RAB ("psychiatrist"):
In my opinion this child don't need to have
his head shrunk at all.
Juvenile delinquency is purely a social disease!
RIFF: Hey, I got a social disease!
A-RAB ("psychiatrist"):
So take him to a social worker!
RIFF (to "Social Worker"):
Dear kindly social worker.
They say go earn a buck,
Like be a soda jerker,
Which means like be a schmuck.
It's not I'm anti-social,
I'm only anti-work,
Glory Osky, that's why I'm a jerk!
BABY JONN (imitating female social worker):
Eek!
Officer Krupke, you've done it again.
This boy don't need a job, he needs a year in the pen.
It ain't just a question of misunderstood;
Deep down inside him, he's no good!
RIFF:
I'm no good!
ALL:
We're no good, we're no good,
We're no earthly good,
Like the best of us is no damn good!
DIESEL ("Judge"):
The trouble is he's crazy!
A-RAB ("Psychiatrist"):
The trouble is he drinks!
BABY JOHN ("Social Worker"):
The trouble is he's lazy!
DIESEL ("Judge"):
The trouble is he stinks!
A-RAB ("Psychiatrist"):
The trouble is he's growing!
BABY JOHN ("Social Worker"):
The trouble is he's grown!
ALL:
Krupke. we got troubles of our own!
Gee, Officer Krupke,
We're down on our knees,
'Cause no one wants a fella with a social disease.
Gee, Officer Krupke,
What are we to do?
Gee, Officer Krupke,
Krup you!
Her boyfriend is busying spouting platitudes lest he be forced to answer why his spineless, pussified self didn't defend his girlfriend in crisis.
"She got what was coming to her. "
"coming" means "deserve". Are you saying she "deserved" to die?
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