Crime and Courts

Cellphone video shows moments before fatal shooting at 10-year-old's burial

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Cellphone video obtained by News4 shows the moments leading up to a shooting that killed a pallbearer at the burial for a 10-year-old D.C. girl who died after a Mother’s Day shooting.

William Chavis, 48, is charged with killing 30-year-old Ronald Banks Tuesday.

Chavis had a long-running dispute with a rival funeral home, which led to the shooting that killed Banks and injured a woman attending Arianna Davis’ burial at Washington National Cemetery in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Video taken at Arriana’s graveside captures the dispute before the shooting.

Witnesses say as Banks was helping lower the girl’s coffin into the ground, he realized what was happening and tried to stop it.

“Ron was a very, very, very nice guy,” said Issac Lambert, Banks’ father. “He was always humorous. He has, like, thousands and thousands, I mean, like, I’ve been on Earth way longer than him, and he has more friends than I will ever have. And he was always someone you could always count on him for anything.

“You could yell at Ron, and I would yell at Ron, and once I get done yelling at him, he wants to give me a hug,” Lambert said.  

Chavis is being held without bond.

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