The slain sister of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams was buried on Friday in a private ceremony, the family said on Tuesday.
Yetunde Price was gunned down on September 14 in the crime-ridden Los Angeles suburb of Compton, not far from where her two youngest sisters first played the game that would rocket them to international fame.
Venus (23) and Serena Williams (21) are the youngest of five daughters raised by Richard Williams and Oracene Price, who are now divorced.
The three older daughters — Yetunde, Isha and Lyndrea — were the children of Oracene Price and a former husband, Yusef AK Rasheed.
All five sisters were close, and the carefully private memorial service and burial, which was announced briefly through a publicist on Tuesday, continued their decision to avoid public scrutiny during their time of grief.
”On Friday September 19 2003, in Los Angeles, California, the Price/Williams family held private memorial and burial services for their beloved daughter, sister and mother, the late Yetunde Hawanya Tara Price,” said the statement, which was released on the same day that a man charged in the shooting was to be arraigned.
”The Price/Williams family would like to publicly thank their many friends, family, the members of the media and well-wishers for the outpouring of support, affection and kindness shown to them during their tragic loss.
”No further details will be made available regarding the services and burial.”
Price, a divorced mother-of-three, was shot in the head as she sat in her white sports utility vehicle outside a house suspected of drug activity in Compton, the gang heartland of Los Angeles.
A murder charge was filed on September 16 against Aaron Michael Hammer (24), who was being held without bail in connection with the killing and was scheduled to be arraigned in Compton Superior Court on Tuesday.
Hammer was charged with one count of murder with the allegation of personal use of a firearm, along with one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
The criminal complaint alleges that he has convictions from 1999 and 2000 for burglary and writing bad cheques.
It is not known what Price was doing in the area, or why she and a friend, Rolland Wormley (28), were apparently parked outside the house.
Wormley was also arrested on a parole violation unrelated to the killing. — Sapa-AFP