First off, I feel bad for the Williams family. From what I know, he seemed like a decent guy. This kind of thing is incomprehensible.
HOWEVER...
I dont know this area of town, but I would have to guess this is not the place I would have chosen to celebrate the new year. You put yourself in bad situations often enough, bad things happen. This doesnt mean that he deserved this, nobody deserves this. But it does mean that your actions and your choices in life have consequences, often unintended consequences. The culture of professional athletics seems to cause a sense of infallibility. Hopefully, as tragic as this event is, it will cause some habitual offenders of dangerous behavior to think about the consequences of their choices. And hopefully some other young players will not fall prey to the magnetic pull to the lifestyle of the typical professional athlete.