Safety group cites actress' last line

NEW YORK -- 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.

Safety advocates, however, have cited the case as a lesson in what not to do during 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 whose Internet resume listed "stage combat" as one of her skills, was leaving a bar with her fiance 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 may have gotten into a brief shoving match with the shooter before he fired a bullet into her chest.

"The ferociousness with which she always protected her friends never surprised me, especially in that moment," fellow actress and friend Mary Jane Gibson said before a memorial service Thursday.

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.

DuFresne's fiance, Jeffrey Sparks, his face still bruised, told reporters Thursday he didn't see his fiancee get shot. But he heard the gunfire and turned to find her on the ground.

"I ran to her and held her and begged her to hang on," he said as he began to cry.

Sparks said he regrets he "didn't take her hand and pull her down the sidewalk away from that idiot with a gun."

Servisio Simmon, 21, a member of the group of youths who was taken into custody but released, gave a different version to The New York Times.

Simmon claimed duFresne told the alleged triggerman: "You got what you want? You got what you want?" He also said the actress "kept raging after Rudy, she kept pushing him, she slipped over the snow" and that the gun "went off."

Police declined to comment on that account.

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 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."