Broncos' Williams killed Monday morning

PackerLegend

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Police find SUV possibly connected to Williams' slayingAssociated Press


DENVER -- Police impounded a 1998 Chevrolet Tahoe early Thursday they believe might have been used in a New Year's Day drive-by shooting that killed Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams.



AP Photo/Jack Dempsey
A Broncos fan adds flowers to a makeshift memorial for slain cornerback Darrent Williams.
Passers-by spotted the vehicle parked south of Denver International Airport and called police anonymously at about 6:30 a.m., police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.

"The community once again came through for us," he said.

The vehicle had been spray-painted black on the sides, front and back, but the top remained white -- the original color of the vehicle authorities were seeking.

The SUV had license plates that matched the one investigators sought. The rear plate had been spray-painted but the front plate was unaltered.



"It appears there was an attempt to disguise," Jackson said.

State confidentiality laws prevent police from saying whom a vehicle is registered to. However, the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post, citing sources they didn't name, reported the SUV belongs to Brian K. Hicks of Denver, who is jailed on drug and attempted murder charges.

Jackson declined to say whether a tipster or a witness led police to focus on the truck.

The vehicle was placed onto a flatbed tow truck and hauled away. Jackson said crime lab investigators would inspect the SUV, but he declined to discuss specifics of what they would look for or what tests they might conduct.

The Tahoe was found on a street amid snow-covered empty lots and industrial buildings under construction. A housing subdivision stood in the distance. Traffic sped by on a nearby thoroughfare.

Elisa Hall, who lives within view of the site where the Tahoe was found, said she hadn't noticed when the SUV was dropped off or impounded.

Williams' funeral Friday

Williams
A funeral for Darrent Williams is scheduled for noon Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. It will be open to the public.
The funeral will take place at Great Commission Baptist Church, 7700 McCart Ave. Scheduled speakers include Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and head coach Mike Shanahan.

A private memorial service is scheduled Friday in Fort Worth.

Meanwhile, a candlelight vigil for Williams in Denver will begin at 4:30 p.m. Friday at 10th Avenue and Broadway and conclude at West 11th Avenue and Speer Boulevard -- the site of the fatal shooting.

A candlelight vigil organized by fans is set for 2:15 p.m. Saturday at Invesco Field at Mile High, at the south entrance below the waterfall.

-- ESPN.com news services


"It's scary," she said. "You think you're safe. I think this is in the middle of nowhere. This is far from Denver."

Although Hicks was behind bars on the day of the shooting, police want to know who was using his vehicle in the early morning hours of New Year's Day, when a gunman sprayed a white stretch Hummer limousine with at least 14 bullets, one of which struck Williams in the neck.

Hicks, 28, has been jailed since Nov. 9 on a charge of possessing drugs with intent to distribute. He also is accused of shooting at a woman who was later killed a week before she was to testify against him last month.

Hicks' wife, Kimaya James, told the Rocky Mountain News that police were looking for her husband's vehicle but that she didn't know who had been driving the Tahoe while he's been in the Denver County Jail.

Investigators have not identified any suspects in the attack on Williams that wounded two other people.

Police also aren't saying whether they know the motive for the slaying but have said there was a disturbance at a nightclub where Williams attended a New Year's Eve party shortly before he was killed. Investigators also are reviewing surveillance video from the club and footage from traffic cameras.

Williams' uncle, Demond Williams, said the cornerback was at the club to promote a rap group for his fledgling independent recording label, Ryno Entertainment.

The gathering at the club in downtown Denver also was billed as a birthday party for Denver Nuggets star Kenyon Martin, who has said he and other Nuggets left the club before any trouble arose.

Williams' teammates and coaches, along with owner Pat Bowlen and other team personnel gathered with Williams' relatives at the team's training complex on Wednesday for a private memorial.

Also in attendance was former teammate Trevor Pryce, who plays for the Baltimore Ravens.

Some of the players wore sweats, others jeans and others suits as they solemnly filed into the building.

"I would like to thank you all for the love and support that our family has received during this sad time," Williams' mother, Rosalind Williams, said in a statement afterward before flying back to Texas.

"Dee lived his life to the fullest. ... I know from all of the public outpouring of sympathy, my son in his short time on this earth touched many lives."

The Broncos will charter a flight to Fort Worth, Williams' hometown, where the funeral will be held at Great Commission Baptist Church this weekend. It will be open to the public.

"I think it will be very special for our football team to be there as a group and to not only support Darrent's memory but his mom, and we're going to have everybody in the organization go," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "It is something we have to do as a family."

Although only 5-foot-8, Williams was full of confidence. He had 88 tackles and four interceptions in 2006 and returned two punts for 50 yards in his final game hours before his death, a 26-23 loss to San Francisco that eliminated the Broncos from playoff contention.

Williams had a 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter who live in Fort Worth. A memorial fund was set up in their honor, and Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony said he wanted to honor his friend, possibly by setting up a college fund for Williams' children.

Anthony said he was with Williams at the nightclub in the hours before he was slain.

In 2003, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Joey Porter was shot outside a Denver sports bar, and last April, Nuggets guard Julius Hodge was shot while driving on Interstate 76 in Denver. Both shootings occurred after disturbances at nightclubs and neither case has been solved.

Hodge, who played Tuesday night for the first time since he was shot five times April 8, said Williams' killing brought back nightmares of the night he was attacked.

"I pray every night for him and his family and friends," Hodge said. "They haven't found who shot me and I've pretty much let it go, but I pray that they find whoever shot him."

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
 

PackerLegend

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From Profootballtalk.com

POSTED 10:57 p.m. EST, January 5, 2007

ARREST MADE IN WILLIAMS MURDER

Police have made an arrest in the shooting death of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams.

One person reportedly has been arrested.

More to come.
 

CaliforniaCheez

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http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_story_005220446.html


Denver police said Friday night that they arrested Willie Clark, 23, on a parole violation and will question him about the slaying of Denver Broncos player Darrent Williams.

Denver police began searching Thursday for three men who may have key information about case, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told the Rocky Mountain News. The three are suspected gang members, the source said.
*************************************************************

The ignorance, stupidity, and violence!!
What could possibly be the motivation to spray all those bullets?
Someone perceived they were "dissed" ?
This is the lifestyle choice your gangsta rappers idolize.
They don't care about their own lives why worry about anyone else's.

I think many Packer players enjoy Green Bay. Few urban gang's, they get treated with respect, and don't have to carry guns except when going to Barnett's bar. Being comfortable and safe is worth a lot.

Gated communities with security guards are now becoming the norm and if you can't afford to be inside the gate, heaven help you.
 

Zombieslayer

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sbp_387 said:
my brother is a big denver fan....
he was telling me that Williams had a lot of talent and was going to be very good. It's a shame but why the heck dose every one need guns????
thier shoud be very strict rules so ediots cant get guns...

Let's not turn this political. A man was killed by some thoughtless a-hole.

My younger brother is a Bronco fan (we moved around a lot) and he's really upset about this.
 

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That's a helluva quick **** paint job if I've ever seen one.







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PackerLegend

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Well Javon wont be the same person ever again seeing what I assume was one of his friends die in his lap.
 
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Well Javon wont be the same person ever again seeing what I assume was one of his friends die in his lap.

Junior year of highschool, a bunch of seniors that were close (on the basketball team) were out and driving. They had an accident, and one of the people went flying through the front windshield. A guy went to go and check on him, and he ended up dieing in his lap.

Yeah, the guy never was the same. I was by no means close friends with the guy, but we played basketball at the local center and eventually he started laughing, joking, getting a silly sense of humour back but in comparison to before, he wasn't the same person. It's sad, and my heart goes out to J-Walk, no one should have to see or experience such a thing.

Thanks for the pic Z.
 

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Around the middle of this it says Darrent was struck in the neck by the bullet.


Broncos CB Williams laid to rest

NFL.com wire reports



FORT WORTH, Texas (Jan. 6, 2007) -- Darrent Williams came home to the tough streets he embraced and escaped, where he first flashed his awesome athletic skills and infectious smile.

Thousands of friends, family members, teammates and fans attended the funeral for the charismatic Denver Broncos cornerback who was killed in a drive-by shooting on New Year's Day.

"I've never seen a little man with so much heart and so much fire," Broncos linebacker Al Wilson said at the three-hour service at Great Commission Baptist Church. "He touched my heart and always will."

When Williams' longtime girlfriend, Tierria Leonard, walked past his open casket, Williams' 7-year-old son, Darius, dressed in a navy pinstripe suit, cried uncontrollably just as he had at the memorial service Friday night, where he wore a T-shirt that read, "I love you Daddy."

Williams is also survived by a 4-year-old daughter, Jaelyn.

Broncos running back Tatum Bell, who played with Williams at Oklahoma State, broke down as he spoke at the service.

"I'm just glad D was in my life," he said through sobs as Wilson comforted him by his side.

The Broncos flew in for the funeral on a chartered flight that did not include wide receiver Javon Walker, who was with Williams when he lost his life.

"Javon is struggling," coach Mike Shanahan said after the service. "He's going through some very heavy grief right now and I talked to Champ (Bailey) about him. He's been with him for the last couple of days. He's going through a tough time. But I'm sure with everybody's support, he'll make it through it all right."

Williams was struck once in the neck and two other passengers were wounded when at least 14 shots were fired into the stretch Hummer that had just left a New Year's Eve party at a nightclub.

Police have no suspects in the slaying in downtown Denver but did make an arrest of a man they want to question. Police won't say whether they know the motive for the slaying but have said there was an altercation at the club.

Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, one of the speakers at the funeral, said bringing Williams' killers to justice was his "No. 1 goal right now."

Safety John Lynch drew rounds of applause when he told the gathering, "As a culture, as a country, we've got to start respecting life."

After the funeral, Williams' gold coffin was carried away in a horse-drawn carriage with his No. 27 Broncos jersey draped across the back. Several members of the funeral home staff, dressed in elegant tuxedos with tails and wearing Broncos baseball caps, walked solemnly in front of the white carriage down the street to the cemetery for the private burial service.

"It's a sad day for the NFL," Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "Not just because we lost a great football player but, more importantly, we lost a great young man that represented his family and his community and his football team in a very positive way." Union chief Gene Upshaw said the players association had set up a scholarship fund for Williams' children.

It took 90 minutes for the line of mourners to be seated in the 2,500-seat church, which was filled with more than three dozen flower arrangements, many of them orange and blue, the Broncos' colors.

Two of Williams' jerseys and a large picture of him were displayed. A Broncos helmet was at the front of the church and Williams' white No. 27 jersey was draped over the altar. Williams was dressed in a black pinstriped suit with an orange tie and white shirt.

Among the honorary pallbearers were Broncos defensive backs Champ Bailey and Lynch. Shanahan also spoke at the service, recalling Williams' bravado even as a rookie in 2005.

"He said, 'Coach, I'm going to make you proud,"' Shanahan recalled. "And it wasn't the third day of practice, Champ looks over at me -- and Champ doesn't say a whole lot -- he looks over at me, puts his eyebrow up a little bit and he goes, 'You know what? We've got somebody special right here.'"

Bowlen and Goodell both spoke about working to make NFL players safer, although Upshaw noted that Williams did everything he was cautioned to do when going out on the town: go in a group, get somebody else to drive and leave at the first sign of trouble. "On the other side of this, we have to address this kind of behavior, this kind of danger, with our athletes in the NFL," Bowlen said. "We are going to, as a league, approach this in a far different way, and we're not going to put our young players -- or our players in general -- in jeopardy. It's not going to happen."

Bowlen buried his 90-year-old mother last month and noted that "she died peacefully in her sleep after a long, great life. Unfortunately, Darrent didn't have that opportunity."

When Lynch spoke, all of the defensive backs and their coaches stood before the congregation and then huddled with his mother, Rosalind Williams, to repeat her son's favorite catch phrase, hollering, "All ready!" to laughter and applause.

"We can't thank you enough for bringing Darrent into our life," Lynch said. "We are so blessed to have had the opportunity to be in his presence. That smile, he was something special."
---
Associated Press Writer Angela K. Brown in Fort Worth and AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.
 

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Broncos | Members of team offering reward to find Williams' killer
Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:41:51 -0800

Members of the Denver Broncos have offered a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and filing of murder charges against a suspect or suspects involved in the killing of CB Darrent Williams. The team hopes that the additional reward money will result in the apprehension and conviction of the individuals involved in Williams' death.
 

CaliforniaCheez

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"Williams' uncle, Demond Williams, said the cornerback was at the club to promote a rap group for his fledgling independent recording label, Ryno Entertainment."

Tell young people to stay away from anything to do with rap music. The genre esteems crime, drugs, mindless viciousness, and disrespect to everyone else but demanding it of others.

NOTHING GOOD IS ASSOCIATED WITH RAP MUSIC.
 

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