Insets, from left: Monica Williams, identified by Memphis police, and Anitra West of Keeper Memorials. Background: the Church’s Chicken restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee, where Williams fatally shot West (WHBQ).
A Tennessee woman will spend 30 years in prison for killing a Church’s Chicken employee following a dispute over payment for a food order.
Monica Williams, 47, was sentenced Friday for the murder of 48-year-old Anitra West in Memphis, according to the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. Williams pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
The confrontation began shortly after 9 p.m. on July 8, 2024. According to a probable cause affidavit, West was working the drive-thru when she got into a heated argument with Williams, who did not want to pay for her food.
Williams, who had purple hair at the time, allegedly shouted at West, “I will kill you.”
She then drove away.
After the argument, West stepped outside to cool down and called a friend. They had been talking for several minutes when Williams returned to the restaurant.
“This same girl with the purple hair I just got into it with just pulled back up on the parking lot,” West told her friend.
The friend later told police that she heard one gunshot, followed by screams from other employees.
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Officers arrived to find West with a gunshot wound to the head. She was taken to a hospital, where she later died.
Memphis police released images of the suspect and the vehicle involved. The vehicle’s owner then contacted police and said she had been with her 10-year-old son when Williams asked whether they were hungry.
The woman and boy had Church’s Chicken coupons, so they went to the restaurant and placed two drive-thru orders. She told investigators that “the employee seemed to become upset,” prompting them to “skip” one order because of the tense exchange. The dispute became “heated,” she said, but no physical altercation occurred.
Williams drove the woman and her son home, saying she planned to stop at a store for chips. She later returned home without mentioning the shooting. The vehicle owner called police after seeing the incident reported on the news.
Police arrested Williams and initially charged her with first-degree murder. She later accepted a plea agreement for second-degree murder.
Anthonette Stevens, West’s mother, told local NBC affiliate WMC that her daughter was deeply committed to her work.
“And her standards for working are being there, being on time, and doing what she needs to do,” Stevens told the station. “Being there for the customers and also her employees, she didn’t want to leave people in a lurch all the time. Working in food service is difficult, but she never seemed to tire of it, just kept doing it and doing it.”
The post Customer who murdered Church’s Chicken employee after she refused to pay for her food will be eating prison grub for decades first appeared on Law & Crime.