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Funeral Director Killed Rival At Boy's Burial In Suitland: Police

What started as a grim day for a child's family turned bloody when the owner of a funeral service company in Maryland gunned down a pallbearer during an incident that broke out in Prince George's County.

Wilson Chavis

Wilson Chavis

Photo Credit: Prince George's Police Department

Hughesville resident Wilson Chavis, 48, has been charged with multiple counts of murder for his role in the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Ronald Steven Banks, of Washington, DC, at a Suitland cemetery on Tuesday, June 6.

At approximately 1:20 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, officers from the Prince George's County Police Department were called to the Washington National Cemetery to investigate a reported shooting.

Upon arrival, first responders found Banks, who was taken to an area hospital and later died from his injuries. A second woman was also struck, though police say it was just a graze wound.

According to investigators, Chavis was providing funeral services for a young child who was being buried, and while they were getting underway, the owner got into a confrontation with two people.

Police noted that the two people were affiliated with a second funeral company which Chavis has "a long-standing business dispute.

Several people attending the funeral became upset with Chavis, and when he was again confronted, he pulled out a weapon and fired two shots, striking the two victims.

Chavis then fled the area before he was stopped by a member of the Morningside Police Department who spotted him. 

Following his arrest, Chavis was charged with: 

  • First-degree murder;
  • Second-degree murder;
  • Attempted first-degree murder;
  • Attempted degree murders;
  • "Related charges." 

He is being held in the custody of the Department of Corrections pending his next court appearance.

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