Woman links suspect to SUV in Bronco killing

By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 5, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated September 5, 2008 at 3:13 a.m.

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Photo by Ellen Jaskol / The Rocky/2007

Denver police detectives Tim Kelley, left, and Bryan Gordon place evidence markers near bullet holes on the Hummer limousine Broncos player Darrent Williams was riding in when he was shot.

Garcia, above, says she loaned SUV used in slaying to Willie Clark, below.

Photo by George Kochaniec Jr. / The Rocky

The suspect vehicle in the Williams shooting was found near East 38th Avenue and Himalaya Road on Jan. 4.

A woman says she loaned the SUV used in the murder of Denver Broncos player Darrent Williams to one of the suspects hours before it was used in the killing.

In a declaration filed in federal court, the woman, Veronica Garcia, said she traded trucks that night with Willie Clark, one of four suspects in the unsolved murder.

The truck Garcia gave Clark was the white Chevy Tahoe from which the shots were fired that killed Williams, two sources close to the case said Thursday.

Clark, 26, repeatedly has said he was not involved in the crime, and no charges have been filed.

But Garcia's statement could put the suspected gang member in possession of the SUV, which was found spray-painted and abandoned in northeast Denver three days after the shooting.

Clark's attorney could not be reached for comment.

Garcia, 28, is the former girlfriend of suspected gang leader Brian Hicks.

Prosecutors allege that after Hicks was arrested on a drug charge in November 2006, Garcia helped run his drug business - a charge Garcia's family and attorney deny. Hicks also allowed Garcia to use his Chevy Tahoe, the sources said.

Garcia's declaration, filed as part of a motion for bail in her own drug case, doesn't explain why she traded vehicles with Clark. But she says she did it "on the night the Bronco player was killed." Williams, 24, was shot to death early on the morning of Jan. 1, 2007, after celebrating New Year's Eve at a Denver nightclub.

Authorities say he was at the club with other Broncos and Denver Nuggets players when members of the group got into an argument with a group of suspected gang members.

The disagreement spilled outside, where Williams and others got into a Hummer limousine Williams had rented for the night. As the limo drove near Speer Boulevard and 11th Avenue, someone fired shots from the Chevy Tahoe, police said. Williams died at the scene.

Authorities suspect there were as many as four men in the Tahoe at the time. All of the suspects are in jail on drug charges, authorities have said.

burnetts@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5343

• September 5, 2008

  7:21 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  ohpa51 writes:

  this is to all gang members, if you play you must PAY. Williams was a good young man with a lot to look forward to, but some low life trash had to kill because he felt "dist" bull crap who ever did this deed was a yellow coward who ain't man enough to face the fact that with out there friends there are VERY YELLOW. if the ones in jail did this then they should pay, the same way they made Mr. Williams pay with his life. We have no room for lower than whale crap gang members who do this around the country.

• September 5, 2008

  8:50 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  almostarmy2003 writes:

  I live in northeast Denver and I went to school with one of the men that were arrested and all I have to say is "I AGREE" burn them all.

• September 5, 2008

  11:07 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  dcolon47 writes:

  These morons actually went to school?????????

• September 5, 2008

  3:39 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  mattymoshow writes:

  Burn these people in public..

• September 5, 2008

  9:23 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  fishlettes writes:

  1-Darrent Williams shouldn't be surprised (if his spirit is some place) that he's dead. It's a known fact that nightclubs have violence & drugs in them so his going there put him at risk of being killed.
  2-WHY in God's name has the Rocky Mtn News published Garcias name and face? Now she'll likely be the target of a hit because she has helped police by what she said here. DUH-if she ends up dead it'll be Denver Polices fault and this newspaper's as well.

• September 5, 2008

  10:57 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  ReallyJustCurious writes:

  Fishlettes - Garcia became a target when she became involved with the gang lifestyle. It doesn't matter that she has been named publicly. Yes, she provided information, but it is the betrayal of the group, people she deals with frequently, that she needs to fear. They didn't read of her betrayal in the RMN, nor did they scan the police blotter to find out. Given their networks, she was pegged immediately. It is sad, I wish she had come forward a year ago, when the investigation was fresh, rather than waiting to add this to her deal to lighten her sentence on a drug charge. Are your friends true friends if they kill you for telling the truth?

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