Thomas Lake has an excellent feature in Sports Illustrated detailing the drive-by murder of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams. It’s as much a cultural study as a news story, showing how Williams and his killer were shaped by—and reflected—their upbringings.

It’s also brutally senseless. The whole thing centered around the kind stupid machismo that most young men would recognize, one that usually ends in shouts and shoves but here was twisted into murder.