Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was shot dead on New Year’s Day 2007. No one has ever been charged with his murder, but the Rocky Mountain News has obtained a letter by a gang member that seems to admit he fired the shots that killed Williams that night.

The letter is signed “Willie D. Clark.”

“(The person) seen me with the gun and shoot out the whip,” the letter states.

A “whip” is a car, but you already knew that.

A law enforcement source said that a handwriting expert compared the letter with a handwriting sample that police already had from Clark and it was a match.

“Same writer, period,” the source said.

So, what happened that night? Why did they want Williams dead? Here is an excerpt from the Rocky Mountain News article, along with a tip: Don’t taunt gang members:

“Williams rented a Hummer limousine to celebrate New Year’s Eve 2007 with friends who were in town from Texas. They went to Club Safari, a nightclub on Broadway, to attend a birthday party for Denver Nuggets player Kenyon Martin.

They were joined by Broncos players Javon Walker and Brandon Marshall, as well as Marshall’s cousin. It was just hours after the team’s season-ending loss.

Also at the club that night were Clark and other members of his gang, law enforcement sources have said.

Walker told HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel that a disagreement broke out between Marshall and his cousin and at least two other men.

The source who provided the letter to the Rocky said Clark told him that the men were talking trash – the athletes and their friends bragging that they had the money to rent out a bar, the gang members giving the players a hard time about losing to the lowly San Francisco 49ers.

At some point, someone in the crowd that included Broncos players said “f— you” to the gang members, according to the account the source said he heard from Clark.

“And then you know of course, the gang is not going to be disrespected by no means and that’s a disrespect,” the source said.

Williams, Walker and others left the club around 2 a.m. in the Hummer limo. As they drove near 11th Avenue and Speer Boulevard, someone fired at least a dozen shots from a white Chevy Tahoe, police said.

One of the shots hit Williams, 24, in the neck, killing him at the scene. Two other passengers in the Hummer were shot but survived.

The source said Clark told him he “dumped on” the Hummer – or shot at it – as retaliation.

Clark and the other men who were in the SUV then hid out for a few days at a girlfriend’s house, the source said Clark told him.

Three days later, police found the Tahoe abandoned and crudely spray-painted black in the Montbello neighborhood of Denver.

Authorities said the vehicle was registered to Brian Hicks, who police say is the leader of the gang to which Clark belongs.”