Boys Will Be Boys, by Eric Smith

Two brothers fenced in a vacant lot with swords they’d ordered from the back of a cereal box. Two friends wearing private-school uniforms passed by in the gathering darkness and asked to play with the swords. Soon, the four boys took turns fencing, a gambit that ended with the two private-school friends competing. The rubber protector fell off a sword, and its exposed steel point penetrated one boy’s chest to the heart. He died instantly, though the others first thought he feigned injury. After confiscating the swords, detectives grilled the surviving boys for hours before releasing them with a rebuke.