YETUNDE PRICEYetunde Price, who was killed on 14 September, 2003, at the age of 31, was probably best known as the personal assistant to and elder half-sister of world-famous tennis players Venus and Serena Williams.She was also a registered nurse and owned a beauty salon in Lakewood, California, not far from the crime-ridden suburb where she was shot while riding in a car with her boyfriend.Divorced, with three young children, Ms Price regularly accompanied half-sisters Venus and Serena around the world and could often be seen at grand slam tournaments“Yetunde was a loving mother, daughter, sister and friend,” the Williams family said in a statement after her death. “Our grief is overwhelming, and this is the saddest day of our lives.”Yetunda Hawanya Tara Price was born on 9 September, 1972, in California, USA. The daughter of Oracene Williams, who later went on to marry the father of Venus and Serena, she grew up best friends with her five sisters.Her early years were spent in Compton, a southern LA suburb notorious for crime and violence, where violent gang fighting later saw Venus and Serena recount the gun shots they often heard as they played tennis on the public courts.As her two sisters rose to prominence, Ms Price remained in Compton but was often to be seen cheering them on at stadium’s across the globe.However, with three children herself and a husband whom she later divorced, family life was also important to her and towards the end of her short life she moved them 40 miles away from the violent streets of Compton to Corona, California.It was on 14 September, 2003, while riding through Compton in a car with her then-boyfriend and intended victim, Rolland Wormley, that Ms Price was shot in the upper torso during a confrontation with local residents. Driven to the nearby Long Beach Memorial Medical Centre, she died on arrival. Mr Wormley was uninjured.Police later found an assault rifle near the scene and neighbours, accustomed to shootings, reported hearing multiple gunshots.Notorious Southside ‘Crips’ gang member, Robert Edward Maxwell, was soon arrested and later pleaded to voluntary manslaughter in March 2006. A judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison.The fatal shooting occurred only a mile from the tennis courts where Venus and Serena spent their childhood playing.Local resident, Rodolfo Pulido, commented, “Week after week, I hear gunfire. It’s common.”Most recently, Ms Price appeared in an article in ‘People’ magazine in which she claimed she no longer had to give her younger half-sisters any more life lessons. “Maybe three or four years ago I’d remind them to stay grounded, but not now,” she said.A tearful Serena Williams dedicated her 2005 Australian Open win to Ms Price.External links:
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