Dodged bullet, not car

Gunshots are fired at a Sweet 16 party. No one is hit. Shortly thereafter an unarmed man is arrested in the death of one of the guests. While at first glance it reads like one of those riddles preteens and other annoying people bring up to appear clever—the ones where the horse’s name is Friday or the man hanged himself standing on a block of ice—the key to the mystery is actually just a simple matter of timing.

Fleeing an outbreak of gunfire at the Milwaukee fête, 19-year-old Marques Fabian ran across what appeared to be a quiet street. Meanwhile, another fleeing guest hopped into a car and sped around a corner. Fabian may have been out of the frying pan, but his escape route landed him directly in the path of the oncoming fire. He was struck and killed.

The driver, a 15-year-old male, was pulled over not far from the scene for unrelated reasons and taken into custody when police discovered he’d been party to a hit-and-run. He’s expected to be charged with leaving the scene of an accident.

by SCOTT SAXON