WASHINGTON — A local chef was stabbed to death at a wedding in Chantilly, Virginia, following an argument with a park worker over chairs late Saturday night.
Fairfax County police say 35-year-old Tyonne Johns was working the event at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park and she had been arguing with 19-year-old seasonal park worker Kempton Bonds of Clifton, Virginia, over who owned the chairs at the event: the caterer or the park.
Then, as a wedding was winding down at around 10:50 p.m., Bonds confronted Johns about the chairs, which she was loading up. The argument escalated, resulting in Bonds stabbing Johns with a 3-inch folding knife, police said.
Johns was taken to a hospital where she would be later pronounced dead.
Bonds stayed at the scene and was arrested. He has been charged with second-degree murder and is being held without bail.
Police say the park authority has terminated his employment, pending the outcome of the investigation. A police spokeswoman said Bonds and Johns had gotten into an argument earlier that night about an unknown topic.
Bonds called police about a noise complaint at about 9:30 p.m., NBC Washington reports. Police arrived at the venue, found everything OK, and left.
Seymone Spence, who went to the wedding reception, told NBC Washington, “It was a wedding. A woman’s day [that] she would never, ever, ever forget. And now she’ll never forget it for all the wrong reasons.”
Nikolas Martin, a friend of Bonds, told NBC Washington that the incident was “out of character” for the accused and didn’t want “to jump to any conclusions.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
See a report from NBC Washington:
