Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Williams Sister Killed, 24-Year-Old Man Arrested in Shooting Death
Aired September 15, 2003 - 06:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Word came to us just about three hours ago that there has been an arrest in the fatal shooting of the sister of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. Yetunde Price was shot in the chest in the Compton neighborhood where the sisters grew up.
There are still so many unanswered questions about this, so let's go live to the phone lines right now. From Los Angeles, Deputy Bill Spear joins us.
Good morning.
DEPUTY BILL SPEAR, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Good morning. How are you?
COSTELLO: Tell us who the suspect is.
SPEAR: Well, we have actually two suspects in custody. The driver of the SUV in which Ms. Price was riding in is identified as Rolland Wormley, a male, black, 28 years old. He was the one who was driving the vehicle, and he drove the victim to a relative's house in the city of Long Beach, where he called 911. Ms. Price was then transported to a local hospital, where she died as a result of her injuries.
COSTELLO: Who else is in custody?
SPEAR: Well, we've got -- a further investigation of this case uncovered circumstances which led to the arrest of Aaron Michael Hammer -- he's a male, white, 24, also a resident of Compton -- as the suspect in the shooting death of Ms. Price. He's been arrested and is being held without bail at one of our local facilities in L.A.
COSTELLO: Was he in a separate vehicle?
SPEAR: You know, some of those details are just not available right now. I just don't know.
COSTELLO: What about Mr. Wormley? What is he accused of?
SPEAR: He was on active parole at the time of the incident. And during the investigation they found -- or they actually determined that whatever his role was -- and they're not being very specific in that right now -- whatever his role was, was actually a violation of his terms and conditions of his parole.
COSTELLO: Did he have a role in the death of Ms. Price?
SPEAR: Well, it's not -- they're not really saying whether he had an actual role in it. He was driving the SUV that she was in. So, the fact that he was there, for whatever reason, they had determined that that fact was a violation of his terms and conditions of his parole.
COSTELLO: The other man in custody, Aaron Michael Hammer, what can you tell us about him?
SPEAR: They're not releasing a lot of information about him just yet. I'm sure as time goes on and they complete a little more of their investigation that they will be giving us more and more information on him.
COSTELLO: Did he know either Mr. Wormley or Ms. Price?
SPEAR: They're not giving that type of information just yet.
COSTELLO: We know that some sort of dispute was ongoing. What was it about?
SPEAR: Again, they're not being very specific. But according to witnesses, there was some type of a verbal altercation going on between Mr. Wormley and the victim and some of the residents of the area.
COSTELLO: We had heard an assault weapon was found at the scene. Was it?
SPEAR: That has been confirmed, although the type of assault weapon is not being disclosed right now.
COSTELLO: That an assault weapon was found at the scene, what does that tell you about this death?
SPEAR: Well, you can't really -- it's difficult to try to determine what that would really mean. It's hard to say. I'm just not at liberty to say right now.
COSTELLO: OK, so you can't give us much information. But we do know that Mr. Wormley is in jail on a parole violation, and that this Aaron Hammer is also in custody. Is he charged with anything?
SPEAR: He's being charged with murder -- with the murder of Ms. Price.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you very much for joining us.
SPEAR: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Deputy Bill Spear from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Shooting Death>
Aired September 15, 2003 - 06:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Word came to us just about three hours ago that there has been an arrest in the fatal shooting of the sister of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. Yetunde Price was shot in the chest in the Compton neighborhood where the sisters grew up.
There are still so many unanswered questions about this, so let's go live to the phone lines right now. From Los Angeles, Deputy Bill Spear joins us.
Good morning.
DEPUTY BILL SPEAR, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Good morning. How are you?
COSTELLO: Tell us who the suspect is.
SPEAR: Well, we have actually two suspects in custody. The driver of the SUV in which Ms. Price was riding in is identified as Rolland Wormley, a male, black, 28 years old. He was the one who was driving the vehicle, and he drove the victim to a relative's house in the city of Long Beach, where he called 911. Ms. Price was then transported to a local hospital, where she died as a result of her injuries.
COSTELLO: Who else is in custody?
SPEAR: Well, we've got -- a further investigation of this case uncovered circumstances which led to the arrest of Aaron Michael Hammer -- he's a male, white, 24, also a resident of Compton -- as the suspect in the shooting death of Ms. Price. He's been arrested and is being held without bail at one of our local facilities in L.A.
COSTELLO: Was he in a separate vehicle?
SPEAR: You know, some of those details are just not available right now. I just don't know.
COSTELLO: What about Mr. Wormley? What is he accused of?
SPEAR: He was on active parole at the time of the incident. And during the investigation they found -- or they actually determined that whatever his role was -- and they're not being very specific in that right now -- whatever his role was, was actually a violation of his terms and conditions of his parole.
COSTELLO: Did he have a role in the death of Ms. Price?
SPEAR: Well, it's not -- they're not really saying whether he had an actual role in it. He was driving the SUV that she was in. So, the fact that he was there, for whatever reason, they had determined that that fact was a violation of his terms and conditions of his parole.
COSTELLO: The other man in custody, Aaron Michael Hammer, what can you tell us about him?
SPEAR: They're not releasing a lot of information about him just yet. I'm sure as time goes on and they complete a little more of their investigation that they will be giving us more and more information on him.
COSTELLO: Did he know either Mr. Wormley or Ms. Price?
SPEAR: They're not giving that type of information just yet.
COSTELLO: We know that some sort of dispute was ongoing. What was it about?
SPEAR: Again, they're not being very specific. But according to witnesses, there was some type of a verbal altercation going on between Mr. Wormley and the victim and some of the residents of the area.
COSTELLO: We had heard an assault weapon was found at the scene. Was it?
SPEAR: That has been confirmed, although the type of assault weapon is not being disclosed right now.
COSTELLO: That an assault weapon was found at the scene, what does that tell you about this death?
SPEAR: Well, you can't really -- it's difficult to try to determine what that would really mean. It's hard to say. I'm just not at liberty to say right now.
COSTELLO: OK, so you can't give us much information. But we do know that Mr. Wormley is in jail on a parole violation, and that this Aaron Hammer is also in custody. Is he charged with anything?
SPEAR: He's being charged with murder -- with the murder of Ms. Price.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you very much for joining us.
SPEAR: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Deputy Bill Spear from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Shooting Death>
