January 28, 2005 -- A stunning 28-year-old actress died in her fiancé's arms yesterday after a Lower East Side thug answered her challenge — "What are you going to do, shoot us?" — by firing a single bullet into her chest, cops said.
Nicole DuFresne, of Brooklyn, had just left a trendy bar with her fiancé and another couple when they were confronted at about 3:15 a.m. by four muggers — two men and two women — at the corner of Clinton and Rivington streets, police said.
One of the thugs, who was carrying a gun, demanded money.
DuFresne's fiancé, Jeffrey Sparks, 28, not seeing the mugger had a gun and not taking the request seriously, tried to push past the man.
"At that point, using both hands, he hit me in the face with the gun," Sparks said.
The grieving fiancé said he and his friend, Scott Nath, started walking away, thinking the trouble would pass.
But as they did, the man tried to grab the purse of DuFresne's friend, actress and playwright Mary Jane Gibson. That's when DuFresne protested, telling the thug, "What are you trying to do? What are you going to do, shoot us?"
Ten seconds later, a shot rang out.
"I turned and I saw Nicole on her back on the street. Mary Jane was standing over her," Sparks said.
"I ran to her. I held her in my arms and begged her to hold on. But she gave me this look that pretty much told me she couldn't.
"She died in my arms. She died angry because she saw me hurt and bleeding."
DuFresne — a rape victim who listed "stage combat" as a skill on her résumé — was rushed to Beth Israel Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Nicole DuFresne, of Brooklyn, had just left a trendy bar with her fiancé and another couple when they were confronted at about 3:15 a.m. by four muggers — two men and two women — at the corner of Clinton and Rivington streets, police said.
One of the thugs, who was carrying a gun, demanded money.
DuFresne's fiancé, Jeffrey Sparks, 28, not seeing the mugger had a gun and not taking the request seriously, tried to push past the man.
"At that point, using both hands, he hit me in the face with the gun," Sparks said.
The grieving fiancé said he and his friend, Scott Nath, started walking away, thinking the trouble would pass.
But as they did, the man tried to grab the purse of DuFresne's friend, actress and playwright Mary Jane Gibson. That's when DuFresne protested, telling the thug, "What are you trying to do? What are you going to do, shoot us?"
Ten seconds later, a shot rang out.
"I turned and I saw Nicole on her back on the street. Mary Jane was standing over her," Sparks said.
"I ran to her. I held her in my arms and begged her to hold on. But she gave me this look that pretty much told me she couldn't.
"She died in my arms. She died angry because she saw me hurt and bleeding."
DuFresne — a rape victim who listed "stage combat" as a skill on her résumé — was rushed to Beth Israel Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
