Rhyder Fox was 15 when he was shot and killed in Milwaukee on the evening of August 6, 2021. Officers found him slumped against a fence in an alley near 21st and Mine; he was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooting was part of the city’s larger struggle with youth gun violence and remained without public resolution for years as his family and friends remembered him online.

A turning point came in summer 2024 when a witness told investigators they had seen an exchange of gunfire between Rhyder and 29-year-old Shiovar Williams, and that after Rhyder’s gun appeared to jam Williams fired the fatal shot. Williams was later charged with first-degree reckless homicide; investigators say forensic testing linked Williams’ DNA to a hat found near Rhyder’s body. Court records note Williams has a prior juvenile record including a 2012 felony murder matter, and a commissioner set bail at $250,000 when he first appeared on the homicide charge and two additional felonies in May 2025.

What details about that August 6 evening might still help explain what happened in the alley near 21st and Mine?