A Maryland funeral director was sentenced to 60 years in prison, with all but 25 years suspended, for shooting two people during a 10-year-old’s burial service, according to the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Wilson Chavis was found guilty of second-degree murder and other offenses in the shooting death of 30-year-old Ronald Banks on February 14.
Chavis went to the Washington National Cemetery in Suitland in June 2023, where his funeral company was holding a service for Arianna Davis, 10, who was killed in Washington, D.C., according to prosecutors.
Chavis got into an argument with people from another funeral home while visiting the cemetery.
During the altercation, he pulled out a revolver and shot Banks, a pallbearer, and grazed another woman, according to officials.
Banks died in the hospital, but the woman survived.
An inquiry indicated that Chavis accosted two people from another funeral home with whom he had a business disagreement just before the event began.
Following the incident, Chavis fled the scene and was apprehended at a traffic stop.
