“I can’t be around guns; I was crying” – Serena Williams reveals shocking date story with cop that left her traumatized after sister Yetunde’s murder


Serena Williams recounts ‘traumatic’ experience of going on date with cop years after sister Yetunde’s death to gun violence | Image Source: Getty

Serena Williams recently spoke about the unique experience of going out on a date with a cop in the aftermath of her half-sister Yetunde Price’s shooting in 2003. The 23-time Major winner was admittedly left so delibitated by fear when her date took her to a gun range that she began crying.

Having enjoyed the spoils of an illustrious tennis career for more than two decades, Williams retired from the sport in front of her faithful fans at the 2022 US Open. Since then, the 44-year-old has focused on her family and business ventures. She also recently started the “Stockton Street Podcast” with her elder sister Venus Williams.

Keeping in mind that the aim of the podcast was to give fans a scoop on never-heard-before stories, the seven-time Major winner brought up Serena Williams’ time at the Juno Beach in Florida during one of her off-seasons. The American recounted that she had gone out with a policeman at some point in the 2000s. Although the cop wasn’t harmful, what went down on their date triggered an old trauma

On the night of September 14, 2003, the Williams sisters had lost Yetunde Price—daughter of Oracene Price from her first marriage—after some members of the South Side Compton Crips street gang shot at her vehicle. The then-World No. 1 spent a large part of the year going to court hearings regarding Price’s killing.

“So I went on a second date with him, and he took me to a gun range. And I didn’t know, I had trauma because if you know the Williams sisters’ story, you know there was five of us,” Serena Williams told Venus Williams in the latest installment of their podcast. “Now there’s four of us because one (Yetunde Price) passed through gun violence back in 2003. So when this cop took me on the date, like, I can’t be around guns. To this day, I still can’t even see guns.”

 

In that context, Serena Williams’ reaction where she began crying and cowering in fear after her date took her to a shooting range didn’t come as surprising.

“They have this thing you can shoot, and he pulls out a gun. And there’s a target, and he starts shooting at the target. I go straight back to Compton, what do you do when you hear a gunshot?” she added. “You drop, and you stay low, and I started commando crawling, I was crying! It was very traumatic.”

Oracene Price still has two daughters, Isha and Lyndrea, from her time with Yusef Rasheed before she met Richard Williams.

“Yetunde changed my diapers” – When Serena Williams got emotional about her eldest sister’s untimely d.e.a.t.h

Serena Williams 'cried the whole time' upon seeing late sister Yetunde Price depicted in new film | The Independent

Back in 2007, Serena Williams paid homage to Yetunde Price by offering aid to crime victims and their families in the USA. In an interview with People, the then-eight-time Major winner revealed that she had taken quite some time to “come to an acceptance” of the events of 2003 considering how close the two sisters were growing up.

“Yetunde and I were so close; she changed my diapers. But I finally came to an acceptance of things…” Serena Williams said back then. “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.”

Yetunde was just 31 when she was shot dead by Southside Compton Crips’members led byRobert Edward Maxfield. Her murder was ultimately vindicated as Maxfield was sentenced to 15 years in jail for voluntary manslaughter in 2006. Having served 12 of those before a parole in 2018, he wound up in prison once again for violating parole according to several reports.