Williams' sister: 24-year-old held

A 24-year-old man has been arrested in the hunt for the killer of the sister of tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Aaron Michael Hammer was being held in custody without bail.

Sheriff’s deputy Richard Pena did not say what led to Hammer’s arrest or when he was taken into custody.

However, he said murder squad detectives were still seeking the public’s assistance in gathering information about the killing of Yetunde Price, who was shot in the chest yesterday about a mile from the tennis courts where her half-sisters first rose to prominence.

Price was shot after an alleged dispute in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton, which has long been notorious for street gangs and violence.

She had been sitting with a man in a 4X4 vehicle shortly after midnight when “somehow they had become involved in a confrontation with the local residents,” Pena said .

Deputies on patrol heard gunshots and found Price, who was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

An assault rifle was found at the scene and neighbours reported hearing six to 20 gunshots.

The man who was in the 4X4 with Price was not hurt and drove her to a relative’s house in Long Beach, from where he called police, Pena said.

Early today, police identified the man with Price as Rolland Wormley, 28.

He was arrested and jailed after authorities discovered he was on parole, which they said he violated by being at the scene of the shooting.

It was not disclosed what he was on parole for.

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

Venus flew from New York to Los Angeles and Serena travelled from Toronto to gather with relatives.

Price, 31, a registered nurse who owned a beauty salon, was a personal assistant to her famous half-sisters.

“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. She was personal assistant, confidant, and adviser to her sisters, and her death leaves a void that can never be filled. Our grief is overwhelming, and this is the saddest day of our lives,” the statement said.

The tree-shaded street where Price died is lined with homes with barred windows. Residents said gunfire is a common weekend disruption.

Rodolfo Pulido, 35, who lives around the corner, was awakened by the shots but did not go outside. “Week after week, I hear gunfire. It’s common,” he said.

Price was one of five sisters who spent their early years in Compton, where gang fighting has claimed many lives.

She was divorced and had three children, Jair, five, Justus, nine and Jeffrey, 11.

She had moved to Corona, 40 miles from Compton in neighbouring Riverside County, and took her mother’s maiden name a few years ago after her parents divorced.

She recently opened a hair salon in nearby Lakewood with a friend from high school.

“I can’t believe it. There’s not one evil thing you could say about this girl. She never hurt any person. She was a quiet person,” said a friend, Sheriee Brown, 32, of Compton.

The five sisters were extremely close. Yetunde, Isha, a lawyer and singer and Lyndrea, an actress and singer, could often be seen in players’ guest boxes and hotels with Venus and Serena.

When Venus and Serena Williams were children, Price was a caring, gentle role model. As recently as Wimbledon this summer, Price helped with her sisters’ personal business matters, cheering them on, the big sister who stayed on the side and never showed any jealousy of their success.

Venus, eight years younger than Price, and Serena, a little more than nine years younger, often spoke about the gunshots they heard as they played tennis on public courts in Compton. When they turned professional as teenagers, they moved with their parents to Florida, in part for the courts and the coaching and in part to escape the violence.

Yet nothing – not stardom nor distance nor the demands of travel – weakened the bonds they felt toward their sisters. At Wimbledon in July, when Venus was injured during her semi-final and considered quitting, her mother and sisters encouraged her to play on.

The poise Venus and Serena showed so young could be attributed as much to the influence of their older sisters as to the independence and religious devotion that their parents, Richard and Oracene, encouraged.

That self-assured character could be seen when Venus and Serena were just little girls, going around to local charity events to help raise money. They weren’t shy, even then, about taking a microphone and talking to other children about the value of education.

By that time, Price was far ahead in her schooling, becoming a nurse, taking business courses and reinforcing for her younger sisters the values that would shape their lives off the court.

All five sisters are the daughters of Oracene Williams, who was previously married to the late Yusef Rasheed. She later married Richard Williams, father of Venus, 23, and Serena, who will be 22 next week.

“They don’t regard themselves as half-sisters, they regard themselves as sisters,” said Raymone Bain, a publicist for Serena. “The five girls are each others’ best friends.”

Serena and Venus both missed the US Open earlier this month because of injuries. Neither has said when they will play next.

They met in the final at five of the last seven Slams, not including this year’s US Open. Serena won each of those times, and one or the other won every US Open since 1999 until this year.