Trial of Seattle Actress's Murderer Confims That Challenging Gunmen To Shoot You Is A Bad Idea
"What are you going to do, shoot us?" These were evidently the last words of Seattle actress Nicole DuFresne, murdered in NYC in January 2005 during a botched mugging.
Rudy Fleming, who's charged with the shooting, did so because she challenged him to, according to testimony in Fleming's trial (NY Times, reg req.).
Tatiana McDonald, one of the teenage muggers with Fleming that night, testified that the seven-person group attempted to mug two other people that night, and were unsuccessful both times (one guy ran away, another pretended to reach for a gun in his jacket).
Then they encountered DuFrense, 28, her fiancee Jeffrey Sparks, and another couple, walking down the sidewalk at 3 a.m.
“I’d like to bang on these people right here,” Miss McDonald quoted Mr. Fleming as saying when he spotted the two couples walking on Clinton Street, south of Rivington Street.Mr. Fleming hit Mr. Sparks in the eye with his gun, then yanked away Ms. Gibson’s purse, tossing it to the two girls, who rifled through it, Miss McDonald said.
Concerned about her fiancé, Ms. duFresne approached Mr. Sparks and said, “Let me see your eye,” while lifting his hand, which was covering his injured eye, Miss McDonald said.
Then she confronted Mr. Fleming, yelling her challenge, and he shot her, the witness said.
“He was so mad, he just lift up the gun and shot at her,” Miss McDonald said. “After I saw her grab her chest, I just ran.”
