Dead of night. A momentarily lost cell phone. Chance meeting. Words exchanged.

Then, gunfire.

“My sister called me about 1:30 a.m. (Friday) and said, ‘Adam’s just been shot. He’s dead,’” said John Rivers.

Adam Selfridge, 37, of Butler, Rivers’ brother-in-law, was fatally shot near the corner of West Cunningham Street and Wagner Avenue — barely a block from his home, according to authorities.

An autopsy determined he died of a gunshot wound to the chest.

Butler police are investigating the fatal shooting — and a related stabbing — but they are releasing few details about the case.

Rivers on Saturday spoke to the Butler Eagle, sharing in part the eyewitness account of his sister — Selfridge’s wife.

The 42-year-old Rivers, who lives in Butler Township, said he was sleeping when his older sister called with the news of Selfridge’s shooting death.

Selfridge was married to Rivers’ younger sister, Rebecca. They are the parents of two children, a 7-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son. The couple married in October 2012.

After getting the phone call Friday, Rivers said he immediately drove to the home on the 400 block of West Cunningham Street, where Selfridge and Rebecca lived with their kids. Rivers’ other sister had been staying there, too, that night.

“I saw my sisters standing on the corner,” Rivers said, “and police roping off the area.” Rebecca was crying.

He coaxed them to get back into their home.

“Becky’s husband was laying in the street,” he said, “and covered in a sheet.”

Read more about the last moments of Adam Selfridge's life in Monday’s Butler Eagle.