Bronco's cornerback killed in drive-by shooting

Darrent Williams during a media appearance in Stillwater, Okla., Monday, Oct. 13, 2003. Sue Ogrocki / AP file

Good Lord! This is pretty sickening. From MSNBC News:

DENVER - Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting early Monday after an argument at a nightclub, his limousine sprayed with bullets in downtown Denver.

Team spokesman Jim Saccomano said police called him about 3 a.m. from the scene and told him three people had been shot, and the 24-year-old Williams had been killed. His death came hours after the Denver Broncos were eliminated from the playoff race.

A little after 2 a.m., a white Hummer limousine was fired on from a vehicle that pulled up along its side, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said. As many as a dozen bullet holes were visible on the driver’s side of the vehicle. One window was blown out and four others had bullet holes.

Three people in the limo were hit and taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital, where one man was pronounced dead, Jackson said. The other man and woman who were shot were not identified.

The Rocky Mountain News reported that wide receiver Javon Walker was one of the passengers but wasn’t wounded. It was unclear how many people were in the limo.

Jackson said there was a dispute at a nightclub several blocks from the shooting where Williams and his group had attended a New Year’s Eve party. He said the argument didn’t specifically involve Williams, according to witnesses.

“Why this happened, we’re not sure,” Jackson said. “There was some confrontation between a group of people in the vehicle and a group at the nightclub.”

First, Williams was killed after an argument in a nightclub. This makes me wonder who was involved in this argument with the group that Williams was with, at that nightclub, and what was the argument about? Did the argument have something to do with the Bronco's loss to the San Francisco 49ers, and their elimination in the playoff race? Or did the argument have to do with sex and picking up women in the nightclub? Or is there more? I can't say. But a further reading of the MSNBC story also revealed this interesting little bit of information:

In December, Williams spoke of returning to his hometown this offseason to talk to youngsters about staying out of gangs. Williams, who has two young children in the Fort Worth area, recently talked to Criss about establishing a free football camp for youth players.

And I found this through the Denver Post.com:

This article was originally posted on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2006.

Editor's note: Throughout the season, Broncos reporter Mike Klis and photographer Glenn Asakawa are helping readers get to know one of the team's players on a deeper level. Asakawa's photographs complement a weekly conversation with Klis about life, about work, and about play.

Klis: How old were you during your wild years?

Williams: Probably from the time I was 12 until I was 17. I was hanging around the wrong people. I was hanging around gang members. The local Crips had people I called friends.

Klis: Uh, excuse me while I gulp.

Williams: I wasn't really a Crip, or part of any gang, but some people might have thought I was because I was affiliated with some of them.

Klis: What pushed you away from that life?

Williams: I went to church one day and the preacher said something about praying every night. He said: "I know a lot of you go home and get drunk or whatever. But even if you don't have a simple life, try every day to pray to the Lord. Get a relationship with Him." And I started doing that. I started praying every day at my home, and even though I wasn't going to church all the time, I started believing more, and I think that's what stopped me from going down the wrong road.

Klis: Sounds like a song. Or good public-speaking material. Do you speak to kids, share your experiences?

Williams: I do that a lot here. What I want to do this offseason is go back home and talk to kids. It's hard back there because of all the violence, drugs. It's right there in your face. When I was growing up, there'd be people doing drugs right there in front of us kids. I just want to tell them they don't have to be like that. Believe in yourself.

I wonder if Williams' anti-gang talk started pissing off the Denver gangs there. In the Denver Post interview, Williams got a first-hand look at the gang activity, the violence and drugs. Williams was hanging around with the Crips gang, although he claimed he was not officially a member. And just as he started making his own career as a professional football star, Williams was also starting to use that star power to speak out against the gang activity.

Does that mean that the Crips or any other gang would put a hit out on Williams? I doubt that. But if Williams was starting to speak out against gang activity, then his remarks would have certainly angered the Denver gang members. Now let's go back to nightclub argument with Williams' party and the unknown opponents. Did these unknown opponents have some affiliation with the gangs? Did the combination of Williams anti-gang talk, the Bronco's loss to the 49ers, and perhaps some pickup of women or sex in the nightclub, cause whoever argued with Williams and his party, to seek revenge against Williams and his party? And if these individuals were affiliated with the gangs, I would say that they were armed to protect themselves from rival gangs. This comes to a second observation regarding the drive-by shooting. I would be especially curious to learn what type of weapon, or weapons, were used on Williams' limo. The MSNBC story reports that "As many as a dozen bullet holes were visible on the driver’s side of the vehicle." Was a semi-automatic pistol, or pistols, used on the limo--say a Glock, or Beretta? Or was a submachine gun used, say a Mac-10, or Tec-9. Most semi-automatic pistols have a magazine capacity of 7-9 rounds. Williams’ limo was hit by almost a dozen rounds. If it was one individual firing a semi-automatic pistol, then that individual would have had to empty one magazine into the limo, and then reload a second magazine to continue firing on that limo. There are some exceptions here with the Glock pistols, or the Beretta pistols. Glock pistols do come with high-capacity magazines containing anywhere from 11 rounds to 13, 15, 17, or even 33 rounds—depending upon the model. Beretta pistols can have magazine capacities of 14, or 17 rounds, depending upon the model. I’d say that at least two people were involved in this drive-by shooting--one person to drive the vehicle, and another to fire the weapon, perhaps one with a high capacity magazine. A second option here was that there was one driver and two shooters, using semi-automatic pistols, were involved in the drive-by shooting. If this was the case, then the Denver police will have two distinct bullets fired by two distinct guns here. The third option here is that there is one driver, and one shooter, using a submachine gun.

I'll admit that this is all speculation on my part. I don't have any other information to add to this, other than what is reported in the mainstream press. It is a tragedy to see such a young, rising star being cut down like this.