Funeral Home Owner Charged In Cemetery Shooting Death at 10-Year-Old’s Funeral

The owner of a Maryland funeral service company has been arrested for the shooting death of a pallbearer who was reportedly affiliated with a rival funeral home. The incident took place on June 5 at Washington National Cemetery during the funeral of a 10-year-old gunshot victim.

Wilson Chavis, 48, who owns Compassion and Serenity Funeral Home in Clinton, Maryland, has been charged with first- and second-degree murder in the death of 30-year-old Ronald Banks. Chavis is also charged with attempted first- and second-degree murder for injuring a female bystander, who was grazed with a bullet during the altercation.

Tragic situations

The cemetery shooting compounded the trauma endured by the family of Arianna Miracle Davis, who was shot on Mother’s Day and later died from her injuries. Davis was asleep in the backseat of her family’s car as they traveled home through Washington, D.C. after a gathering. A “barrage of gunfire” that dispersed more than 50 bullets, many of which hit the child in the upper body. No arrests have been made in Davis’ death

According to several reports, Chavis was in charge of conducting the burial services for the Davis family and “clashed” with Banks and another individual who were participating in the ceremony but also worked for Freeman Funeral Services, also of Clinton, with which Chavis “had a longstanding business dispute.” The owner of Freeman Funeral Services had recently filed for a “temporary peace order against Chavis for alleged threatening and harassing behavior.” However, the order had been dismissed earlier on the day of the shooting when Freeman representatives failed to appear at the morning hearing.

Trauma after trauma

Court documents allege that Chavis “looked at the pastor leading the service and said ‘I’m here for all you b—- a– n——.’ The pastor reportedly didn’t respond and focused on the mourners, and that is when Chavis allegedly pushed him and said ‘This ain’t your f—— funeral home.’”

Antionette Belk, the mother of Arianna Davis, added that Chavis also shouted, “I own this body!” and spit on the preacher, who was Davis’ uncle.

When funeral attendees stepped in to confront Chavis, he tripped over the lid of the concrete vault and fell. He then pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Banks, then grazed the female — an adult cousin of Davis — with a second shot. Chavis fled the scene in his car, but was quickly apprehended during a traffic stop.

“I’m so traumatized that this happened at my daughter’s burial site,” Belk told a local news outlet. “I didn’t even get to lay her down, even to put her in the ground, and another incident happened. This is so traumatizing to me, my children, my whole family. It’s trauma after trauma.”