UPPER MARLBORO, MD – The owner of a Maryland funeral home convicted of a murder which took place during a child’s funeral is slated to spend nearly three decades in prison.
While justice has been served, locals are still haunted by the fatal shooting in light of the venue where it occurred.
In June of 2023, 10-year-old Arianna Davis was being laid to rest at Washington National Cemetery after the young girl was fatally struck by a stray bullet that past Mother’s Day weekend, when an unexpected tragedy befell the funeral.
According to reports at the time of the incident, “a long-standing business dispute” involving funeral home owner Wilson Chavis and those present at the young girl’s funeral turned deadly when a confrontation escalated to Chavis fatally shooting a pallbearer.
At the time of the incident, Chavis reportedly yelled, “I own this body,” seemingly in reference to the young girl being laid to rest and proceeded to spit on the preacher.
When attendees confronted Chavis over the atrocious display, he reportedly began to back away before tripping over a concrete vault and producing a firearm.
Wilson fired two shots, hitting 30-year-old Ronald Steven Banks and another woman, before fleeing the scene. While the woman suffered a graze wound, Banks succumbed to his injuries.
The entirety of the incident left locals shocked, with the mother of Davis being “traumatized” by what occurred at a time meant to mourn the loss of her young daughter.
Antionette Belk, Davis’ mother, said at the time, “I’m so traumatized that this happened at my daughter’s burial site. 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.”
This past February, 50-year-old Chavis was convicted of second-degree murder, and on July 11th, the convicted murderer learned his fate with respect to sentencing.
The judge in the case rendered a 60-year sentence for Chavis, but suspended 35 of the years which leaves a 25-year sentence for the funeral home owner.
Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Tara Jackson said in a statement regarding Chavis’ sentence, “This was an unthinkable tragedy - one that has caused immeasurable pain to multiple families. What these families and this community had to experience is something that should never happen. Today's sentencing sends a clear and unequivocal message that we will not tolerate this kind of violence in our community.”
