MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The tragic killing of a Memphis Police officer 26 years ago has led to a push to stop gun violence in Memphis.

The case involves Don Williams, a Memphis Police officer who was shot and killed as he worked an off-duty, moonlighting security job at a nightclub in 1997. Williams was shot after an argument outside the club.

He was shot by a person he told to leave the club. The bullet went through his neck and severed his spinal cord, leading to his death a few weeks later.

The officer’s family and fraternity are revamping a fundraiser in Williams’ name in hopes of making change.

“Every day, every second, every minute of our lives, is constant that he is with us for sure,” said Donald Batiste, Williams’ son-in-law.

Williams never lived to see his young daughter, now Batiste’s wife, get married.

The community rallied around the young family, and Williams’ fraternity brothers in Omega Psi Phi started a golf tournament in his name.

“He had small children, so what we decided to do was to have a golf tournament to help put them through school,” said Keith Collins, golf tournament chairman.

The tournament grew as a fundraiser to provide scholarships to students, but this year, the Don Williams Uplift Golf Tournament is focusing on anti-gun violence efforts.

“It’s prevalent in our in our community and we really want to reach the young people that can have an education, you’re educated you’re less likely to get involved in criminal activity and with with criminal activity, you have gun violence. And so we really wanted to tie those things together,” said Collins.

They say it goes in line with how Williams was tragically killed and the need to put down the guns.

“We really wanted to talk to the young people and say, Listen, this is really not a way to go. You want to educate yourself,” said Collins. “He [Williams] would want something like that to happen, because again, he loved Memphis. He loved his community.”

Don Williams’ family hopes the anti-gun violence push spares other wives’ and children’s pain. For Williams’s first grandchild, Batiste’s 5-year-old daughter, it’s about making sure she learns her grandfather’s legacy.

“My daughter every morning, going to school we listen to Atomic Dog in the car. And it just so happened my father in law, that was a tradition of his. I really didn’t know that, my wife told me about it after it just kind of naturally happened,” said Batiste. “So she knows her granddad a lot.”

The Don Williams Ant-Gun Violence Memorial Golf Tournament is taking place Saturday, Aug. 19 at Timber Truss in Olive Branch.

You can support the tournament by coming out to play or making a financial donation. To register for the golf tournament, see the attached flyer.

You can also support it by making a donation to Uplift Memphis 901 or through Cashapp at $UpliftMemphis901.