East Side killing
A robber shot and killed an aspiring actress from Brooklyn who worked in a Downtown bar. The killing came during a hold-up at 3:13 a.m. Thurs. of two couples at the corner of Rivington and Clinton Sts., police said. The victim, Nicole duFresne, 28, of Brooklyn was taken to Beth Israel Hospital where she was declared dead.
At about 12:30 a.m. duFresne finished her shift at Rockwood, a local bar, and went out with her boyfriend and another couple for a few drinks, according to the Associated Press. The four had just left Max Fish, a Lower East Side bar when a group of four or five robbers stopped them at gunpoint.
One of the robbers then asked duFresne’s boyfriend for his money and when the victim started to protest, he shot her, grabbed the bag of the other woman and fled with his accomplices, according to the wire service.
The robber was described by police only as a black man, between 5 ft. 7 in. and 5 ft. 9 in., slim build and wearing a dark parka and a scarf, police said.
The victim’s Web site describes her as a writer, actor and producer, according to the A.P. A graduate of Emerson College in Boston, she was a founding member of the Present Tense Theater Project and acted with the LAByrinth Theater Co. in New York.
Payroll heist arrests
Four armed men who held-up a payroll office in the Century 21 store at 22 Cortlandt St. on Friday morning Jan. 21 and fled with $23,946 were arrested by First Precinct officers who were passing by in a patrol car, police said. The suspects, three from the Lower East Side and one from Brooklyn, were charged with first degree robbery.
Police said three of the suspects entered a side door at 175 Broadway at about 10:40 a.m., asked for employment applications, then put on ski masks and displayed weapons, two wielding guns and one a knife. They held up employees at two desks of NYC Check Express, an in-house check-cashing service, and ran out with the money in a bag, police said.
One of the Check Express employees pushed an alarm button and others hailed a passing patrol car and pointed out the suspects who were getting into a cab that was waiting for them, police said. Sgt. George Codd and Officer Daniel Guerra stopped the cab and arrested Angel Perez, 19, of Delancey St.; Edgar Saeteros, 20, of E. 10th St.; Sahib Reeves, 19, of E. 13th St., and George Everson, 20, of Farragut Rd. in Brooklyn. Police did not identify which of the suspects was driving the cab.
Theft in Church
A thief who entered the office of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine Church unnoticed at 7 State St. on Fri. Jan. 14 made off with a shoulder bag with $400 in cash, a camera and credit cards, police said. Rev. Peter Meehan said last week that there was no break-in. “It was one of those opportunity incidents,” he said in a telephone interview. “The bag was there and someone came in and took it.”
Bike thief
A man riding his bicycle on John and Gold Sts. shortly before 11 p.m. on Tues. Jan. 18 was pushed from behind by an unknown suspect who made off with the bike, police said. The victim broke a finger in the fall.
Club bash
A dispute between two patrons at Culture, a club at 179 Varick St. near King St., at about 4:30 a.m. Monday Jan. 17 ended when one of them hit the other in the head with a flashlight, police said. The victim was treated at St. Vincent’s Hospital. There were no arrests and First Precinct detectives are investigating the case.
Car break-in
A motorist who parked his car on Mercer St. near Broome St. on Friday, Jan. 21 heard his car alarm when he returned at 10 p.m. and found that luggage was missing from the trunk, police said.
Restaurant thief
Employees at Emerald Pub at 310 Spring St. told police on Sat. Jan. 22 that a man who had been coming in during the previous three weeks kept saying that the establishment had to sweep its sidewalks or it would get a violation. The visitor came in again on Saturday morning, asked to use the bathroom and then went to the basement where he took a small safe, put it in a cardboard box and started to walk out with it, according to police. The suspect dropped the safe when an employee stopped him and fled after hitting the employee on the head, police said.
—Albert Amateau
WWW Downtown Express
