Funeral Service Company Owner Charged In Cemetery Shooting Death During Child's Burial

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — The owner of a funeral service company police say shot two people at a Suitland cemetery during a child's funeral has been charged in connection to the death of one of those individuals.

Wilson Chavis, 48, of Hughesville faces charges for the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Ronald Steven Banks of Washington, D.C. Banks was a pallbearer at a burial service being held at a cemetery in the 4100 block of Suitland Road June 6 at approximately 1:20 p.m. Banks was taken to the hospital where he died. A woman also was grazed by a bullet, police said.

Police disclosed that Chavis owns the funeral service company that was providing funeral and burial services for a young child who was being buried at the cemetery. While the burial service was getting underway, Chavis confronted two people at the service. Those individuals were affiliated with a second funeral service company with which Chavis has had a long-standing business dispute, police said.

Several funeral attendees became upset with Chavis and confronted him about his behavior. A preliminary investigation suggests Chavis pulled out a gun and fired two shots, hitting both victims. He then left the cemetery in his vehicle. Several minutes later, an officer with the Morningside Police Department saw Chavis and stopped his vehicle. He was taken into custody.

Chavis has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, attempted first- and second-degree murder, and related charges.

The funeral was for 10-year-old Arianna Davis, who was in a car with her family May 14 when she was hit by a barrage of gunfire in the 3700 block of Hayes Street off Kenilworth Avenue, Patch reported. The family drove to a Washington, D.C., firehouse in the 1500 block of C Street Southeast and Arianna was taken to the hospital in critical condition. She died several days later.