ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver Broncos wide receiver Javon Walker says he still has the bloodied shirt from the night teammate
Darrent Williams died in his arms in a drive-by shooting on New
Year's Day.
In his first public comments about Williams' unsolved death,
Walker tells HBO's "Real Sports" in a segment to be aired Tuesday
night that he keeps the unlaundered shirt as a reminder of his
friend and of the fragility of life.
Interviewer Andrea Kremer asks Walker about showing up to
Broncos headquarters about 10 hours after Williams' slaying while
still wearing his bloodstained clothes.
"I still have those clothes," Walker replied.
Asked why he hadn't washed them, he said, "It's just something
that reminds me every day of what could happen and this is what
happened to my friend. And this is like ... what's left of him is
on my clothes."
Walker told The Associated Press on Saturday that the interview
with Kremer was the only time he planned on talking publicly about
the Williams' slaying.
Williams, 24, was a rising star who had just completed his
second season in the NFL when the stretch limousine he was riding
in was sprayed with bullets after leaving a nightclub in downtown
Denver where there had been an altercation between people in
Williams' group and suspected gang members.
No charges have been filed in the case, although police believe
several men in custody on federal drug charges have information
about Williams' slaying.
"Real Sports" said another Broncos receiver, Brandon Marshall,
and his cousin were partying with Williams' group that night and
began spraying champagne around, "some of which hit a club patron
and his friend, who confronted Williams and his entourage."
Those men flashed gang signs and were escorted out of the club,
said members of a rap group from Williams' hometown of Fort Worth,
Texas, who were with him that night.
Walker said he didn't see the encounter inside the club but saw
trouble brewing when he left the club at closing time. Marshall and
his cousin were exchanging heated words with two men, he said. The
rappers said it was the same men who had been kicked out of the
club earlier that night.
After Williams and Walker both tried to intervene, Williams told
Walker to ride with him in his Hummer limousine, and they drove off
into the night, Walker said.
Less than a mile away, Walker said he was turning up the music
when Williams suddenly fell into his lap.
Walker said he pushed Williams away and told him to quit messing
around -- and that's when he saw blood spurting from Williams' neck
and heard the other gunshots.
Walker said he held Williams close and tried to stop the
bleeding.
"All I remember at that point in time was he was just looking
up at me and I was just like, 'I got you, Dee, I got you, Dee. I
got you, Dee,'" Walker recounted. "So, the limo went off the road
into the side of the snow. I just remember grabbing him, pulling
him out the limo."
Walker said he didn't know if he should run with Williams and
worried if "these dudes were going to try to finish us off?"
"You don't know what to think," Walker said, "to have
somebody die in your arms and you know you're the last person he
hugged."
Walker said he didn't attend Williams' funeral in Fort Worth
with the rest of the Broncos "because all it was going to do was
just bring back memories of something I didn't want to feel
again."
He said it had been hard enough when the Broncos held a private
memorial service at team headquarters and he didn't know what to
tell Williams' mother, Rosalind Williams, as she hugged him.
Instead, Walker went to Las Vegas, fearful, he said, for his own
life in case the shooter wanted to "finish everyone off" who was
in the limo.
Walker, who joined the Broncos in a draft day trade from Green
Bay last year, said at first he didn't want to keep playing in
Denver.
He said he doesn't need any grief counseling but acknowledged
he'll probably never put the tragedy behind him: "Maybe when I see
him in heaven, I can ask him, maybe put it behind me then."
Coming off a torn knee ligament that wiped out most of his 2005
season, Walker piled up 1,084 yards and eight touchdowns on 69
catches last year.
He's had a stellar training camp and has steadfastly refused to
talk about anything other than football. He told The AP on Saturday
that last year was just of glimpse of what he can do on the field.
"Obviously, last year I was coming in and trying to rehab and
learn the offense and get familiar with my teammates. This year, is
just boom, full-speed, all-go ahead," he said. "I feel good. I'm
healthy. Nothing's wrong. And I'm ready to take off from a fast
start."