Latest news with #CompassionandSerenity
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Yahoo
A 10-Year-Old Girl Was Killed. Then The Funeral Director Opened Fire At Her Burial
A Maryland funeral director was found guilty of second-degree murder for fatally shooting a pallbearer at a burial service for a 10-year-old girl, who herself had been shot to death. Wilson Chavis, 50, was also convicted of use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence and reckless endangerment, Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office announced on Friday, Feb. 14. 'When acts of violence occur at places that should be sacred like funeral homes and cemeteries, it's horrific,' said State's Attorney Aisha Braveboy. 'With this guilty verdict, Mr. Chavis will be held accountable for his reckless, callous actions.' Chavis went to the Washington National Cemetery in Suitland on June 6, 2023, where the funeral home he owned, Compassion and Serenity, was hosting a service for 10-year-old Arianna Davis, who was fatally shot on Mother's Day in 2023. Authorities said Chavis allegedly got into a confrontation with two people from another funeral home that Chavis had a long-standing business dispute with. Funeral attendees confronted Chavis about his behavior and at one point he pulled out a gun and fired. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. Thirty-year-old Ronald Banks, who was a pallbearer, was fatally shot. A second victim suffered a graze wound. Chavis left the area and was later picked up during a traffic stop, CBS News Baltimore reported. 'The saddest part about that day was that the mother of Arianna Davis said she never got to see her daughter be buried and lowered into the ground,' said Assistant State's Attorney William Porter, per WUSA9. 'Someone had to tell her where her daughter was buried later.' According to the Metropolitan Police Department, Arianna was a passenger in a car with her family when she was hit by a stray bullet in Washington, D.C. Sentencing is scheduled for July 11. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Yahoo
Maryland funeral director found guilty shooting, killing pallbearer during funeral
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. () — A funeral director faces up to 65 years in prison after a Prince George's County jury found him guilty of second-degree murder on Thursday. In June of 2023, 50-year-old Wilson Wesley Chavis went to the Washington National Cemetery in Suitland where the funeral home he owned – Compassion and Serenity – was conducting a service for 10-year-old Arianna Davis. RELATED COVERAGE: DC teen arrested, charged in murder of 10-year-old Arianna Davis Over Mother's Day weekend in 2023, Davis was shot by a stray bullet while in a car with her family in Washington, D.C. She died from her injuries on May 17, 2023. During her funeral service on June 6, , 30-year-old Ronald Steven Banks. A second bullet grazed a 39-year-old woman. Investigators said while the service was being conducted, Chavis went up to two people who were affiliated with a different funeral service company that he had a long-term business dispute with. They were there mourning Davis's death at the time. Several attendees reportedly confronted him about his behavior. That's when officials said Chavis pulled out a gun and fired twice, hitting Banks and the woman. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Man charged for shooting 2 people during funeral service in Prince George's County He ran from the cemetery and fled in his car before being pulled over by police. 'This 10-year-old girl was being buried that day. Everyone knew that, yet it wasn't important enough, yet that wasn't sacred enough not to carry out unnecessary beef,' State's Attorney Aisha Braveboy said during a press conference . On Feb. 13, a jury found Chavis guilty of second-degree murder, use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence and reckless endangerment. 'When acts of violence occur at places that should be sacred like funeral homes and cemeteries, it's horrific,' Braveboy stated, in part, in a news release about his verdict. 'With this guilty verdict, Mr. Chavis will be held accountable for his reckless, callous actions.' Chavis's sentencing is scheduled for July 11. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
