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Serena and Venus Williams' eldest sister gunned down

The eldest sister of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams was fatally shot early on Sunday outside an abandoned house in a poor area of Los Angeles near where her family once lived, police said.

Yetunde Price, 31, was shot about 12:15am in Compton, an area known for gang violence about 32 km south of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy Alba Yates said.

The suspected homicide occurred outside a house that witnesses described as abandoned, after a confrontation between neighborhood residents and Price, who was riding in a white sports utility vehicle (SUV) with an unidentified man, Yates said.

Price's companion was not injured and was being held for questioning, police said. It was unclear what relationship Price had with her companion or who had been driving the vehicle, they said.

A 24-year-old man was arrested in the investigation of the shooting, the LA County Sheriff's Department announced early yesterday.

The suspect was identified as Aaron Michael Hammer. He was jailed without bail, said sheriff's Deputy Richard Pena. The deputy didn't say what led to Hammer's arrest or when he was taken into custody.

Pena said homicide detectives were still seeking the public's assistance in gathering information about Price's killing.

Sheriff's deputies and a gang squad from the Compton police department had initially surrounded the abandoned house, where it was believed the suspects were barricaded, police said.

But police later determined the suspects had left before they arrived, Pena said. An assault rifle may have been used in the shooting,.

Price died of gunshot wounds a short time after arriving at a local hospital, Yates said.

The mother of three owned a Los Angeles-area beauty salon and worked as a personal assistant to her two sisters, Williams' family attorney Keven Davis said.

The Williams sisters issued a statement shortly after the shooting saying their family had been overwhelmed with grief at news of Price's death.

"We are extremely shocked, saddened and devastated by the shooting death of our beloved Yetunde," the Williams family said in the statement.

"She was our nucleus and our rock ... and her death leaves a void that can never be filled," it said.
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