Drive-by shootings are almost by definition anonymous--there are no
fingerprints, no fibers, no hairs, nor any other telltale clues typical
of most crime scenes. There is usually no hard evidence beyond
ballistics and a car description so generic it is virtually useless. In
Drive-By, Gary Rivlin penetrates the anonymity of one such incident
and creates an extraordinary portrait of the people entangled in it. He
takes us behind the headlines, and through bold investigative reporting,
finds the individuals so often left out of the story.
In this real-life narrative, we meet the teens who, on Sunday, the
eighth of July, were involved in a scuffle over a bicycle, and on the
ninth became murderers and victims. By presenting the story of this
murder in human terms, Rivlin challenges the stereotypes and
indifference that allow the problem of inner-city violence to escalate.