American shot by Fritz, perhaps earlier (9)
I believe the answer is:
aforehand
'american shot' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'by fritz perhaps earlier' is the wordplay.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'fritz perhaps' becomes 'hand' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'earlier' becomes 'afore' (I've seen this in another clue).
'hand' put after 'afore' is 'AFOREHAND'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for aforehand that I've seen is " in former times".)