Serena Williams once opened up about the devastating impact her half-sister’s Yetunde Price’s murder had on her.
Yetunde Price, the eldest sibling of Serena and Venus Williams, was born to their mother Oracene Price in her previous marriage to Yusef Rasheed.
Serena Williams with her late half-sister Yetunde Price (Source: Getty)
On September 14, 2003, Yetunde Price was tragically shot dead outside a known drug house in Compton, California.
Price was with her boyfriend Rolland Wormley in a white SUV when shots were fired, with one bullet striking the 31-year-old in the back of her head.
Wormley was unharmed and drove to his mother’s house, where they called for an ambulance. Price was declared dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Upon receiving the devastating news, Serena Williams rushed to Los Angeles from Toronto, while Venus Williams arrived from New York to be with their parents during the difficult time.
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The shooting was eventually determined to be a case of gang violence, with the shooter Robert Edward Maxfield being sentenced to 15 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.
In a 2007 interview with People, Serena Williams admitted that it was “still hard” for her to speak about her sister’s murder, especially given their close relationship.
Nevertheless, the American disclosed that she had managed to come to terms with Price’s demise over time.
“Yetunde and I were so close; she changed my diapers. But I finally came to an acceptance of things,” she said.
To honor their sister’s memory, the Williams sisters established the Yetunde Price Resource Center in Compton in 2016.
Serena Williams explained that it was her and her sisters’ intention to pay tribute to Price by offering aid to victims of violence and their families.
“We definitely wanted to honor our sister’s memory because she was a great sister, she was our oldest sister and obviously she meant a lot to us,” she said.
“And it meant a lot to us, to myself and to Venus and my other sisters as well, Isha and Lyndrea, that we’ve been wanting to do something for years in memory of her, especially the way it happened, a violent crime,” she added.
“If her kids didn’t have my mom and us, it could be really devastating” – Serena Williams on building a ‘great system’ for her late sister Yetunde’s children
Serena Williams (Source: Getty)
Yetunde Price left behind three children. Serena Williams emphasized that the impact of Price’s death could have been deeply “devastating” for them if she and her mother hadn’t stepped in to create a supportive environment for them.
The American asserted that the Yetunde Price Resource Center was established to provide aid to people who lacked a similar support system.
“Basically, how does the family react? If her kids didn’t have my mom and us, it could be really devastating. But we had such a great system that they’re doing pretty good,” Williams said.
“We just felt like people that didn’t have that opportunity to fall back on, what could they do? And that’s kind of how this resource center came about,” she added.
In her 2024 ESPN documentary ‘In the Arena: Serena Williams,’ the 23-time Grand Slam champion disclosed that the “hardest part” of dealing with her sister’s murder was having to break the news to her kids.
