Eighteen months prior, Wyatt Earp had protected Brocius against a mob ready to lynch him for killing Town Marshal Fred White, and then provided testimony that helped spare him from a murder conviction. Now Brocius fired at Earp with his shotgun from about , but missed. Earp returned fire over his horse using a 22-inch, 10-gauge shotgun. He killed Brocius with a load of buckshot to the stomach, nearly cutting him in half. Brocius fell into the water at the edge of the spring.