A 24-YEAR-old man with gang connections has been arrested on suspicion that he shot and killed the 31-year-old eldest sister of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams after an argument in a poor Los Angeles suburb, police said on Monday.

　　Aaron Michael Hammer was being held without bail as the suspected triggerman in the death Sunday of Yetunde Price in Compton, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office said.

　　Hammer will face a first-degree murder charge at his arraignment, which was expected Tuesday, a sheriff's spokesman said.

　　Hammer was believed to have shot Price in the upper chest as she and a companion, Rolland Wormley, drove past a Compton house where they had had an confrontation with occupants, Deputy Carlos Lopez said.

　　Lopez said Price was shot in the upper torso at 12:15am. Wormley, who was driving a white SUV, took Price to a relative's home in nearby Long Beach, where an ambulance was called. It's not clear whether Price was dead on arrival at the undisclosed hospital, he said.

　　Price, a mother of three, owned a beauty salon and worked as a personal assistant to her two sisters, Williams' family attorney Keven Davis said.

　　Serena Williams, who will turn 22 on Sept. 26, is the No. 3 female tennis player in the world. Venus, 23, is the No. 6 female tennis player in the world.