The sister of Serena and Venus Williams was shot dead in the Los Angeles borough of Compton today.
Yetunde Price, who was 31, died in hospital in the early hours. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confirmed that Price had been travelling in a white sports utility vehicle with a man, and the pair became embroiled in a row with a group of local residents.
A spokeswoman for the LASD said, "Detectives were on patrol when they heard multiple gun shots. They went to the scene and discovered that a man and a woman had been involved in an incident with local residents. This led to gunfire and the victim died of upper torso injuries just after midnight.
Price, who adopted her mother's name when Richard and Oracene Williams, parents of five sisters, divorced in 2002, was a personal assistant of her younger tennis-playing siblings.
"Homicide investigators and detectives are on the scene and attempting to find the exact circumstances of the incident", added the spokeswoman. The incident took place on the 1100 block of Greenleaf Boulevard in Compton.
The Williams sisters all grew up in Compton, a district of Los Angeles where gang warfare was and still is rife, but Yetunde did not share the same talent or appetite for tennis as Venus and Serena. Venus and Serena have since moved away to live in Florida, although Yetunde lived more locally.
She was, according to the WTA Tour's latest handbook, a business management major and registered nurse. But she would regularly accompany her younger sisters around the world and was often seen at grand slam tournaments, playing a support role to Venus, 23, and Serena, 21.
Police quickly attended the scene of her death and surrounded a house which was, according to the LASD, believed to be housing suspects. There was no immediate comment on the incident from the family. Police have yet to make any arrests over the fatal shooting of their sister.
Filed by Barry J Whyte
