American shot by Fritz, perhaps earlier (9)
I believe the answer is:
aforehand
'american shot' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.
'by fritz perhaps earlier' is the wordplay.
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'fritz perhaps' becomes 'hand' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'earlier' becomes 'afore' (I've seen this before).
'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".)