For the Fisk family, the shooting death of 26-year-old Nathan Fisk in Chattanooga early Monday is doubly hard.

Mr. Fisk’s two younger brothers, with whom he especially was close, are incarcerated for violating parole and were notified of the homicide only by telephone, said sister-in-law Brittni Fisk.

“It really hurt because that’s my brother-in-law and I have to deal with my husband, and it’s kind of hard because all his brothers are incarcerated,” Ms. Fisk said.

Mr. Fisk suffered a gunshot wound to his upper right chest and died at Erlanger hospital after three friends brought him there shortly after 3 a.m., said Lt. Tim Carroll, head of the Chattanooga Police Department major crimes division.

Mr. Fisk and his friends were driving from McMinnville, Tenn., to visit a club in Chattanooga and, upon arrival, found the club closed, according to police. They pulled out of the lot and in front of a white Honda Civic with four men in it. The groups exchanged words, then the McMinnville men explained they were heading to a club, police were told.

The McMinnville men said they followed the Civic to another business that also was closed. At that point, the groups got into an altercation, and one man got out of the Civic and began firing shots, Lt. Carroll said.

The four McMinnville men scattered and eventually returned to their car. Three of the men met up and began looking for Mr. Fisk, who they found on the side of the road, Lt. Carroll said.

The three friends were not able to tell police exactly where the shooting took place because they were unfamiliar with the area and had been drinking, he said.

Police are searching for four men in their mid-20s driving a white Honda Civic, Lt. Carroll said. Investigators are searching for a crime scene somewhere on Market Street from the 200 block south, he said.

The men mentioned something about 212, but police aren’t sure if that referred to the restaurant on Market or to a former club on East 11th Street, Lt. Carroll said. The men remembered seeing the Bijou on Broad Street, the lieutenant said.

Mr. Fisk and his brothers had been in trouble with the law before but were not bad people, Ms. Fisk said. Warren County Jail records show Mr. Fisk most recently had been arrested and charged with assault. He was released Oct. 19.

“They’ve grown up in trouble almost their whole life,” Ms. Fisk said. “In and out of jail, juvenile detention, mostly when they were younger. (Nathan)’s the outgoing person. He’s always trying to make someone laugh.”

The homicide was the city’s first since Oct. 21 when Lafredrick Collier, 34, was shot to death during a fight over car parts. Tommy Young, also known as Tommy Reed, and Terrence Walker have been charged with criminal homicide and attempted first-degree murder in connection with that incident.