Monica Williams pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a firearm offense in the 2024 death of restaurant employee Anitra West.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Monica Williams has been sentenced to an effective 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Church’s Chicken employee Anitra West, bringing a criminal case that began with a drive-thru dispute in July 2024 to a close.

Williams entered the plea Sept. 18 and also pleaded guilty to being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said West, 48, was working at the Church’s Chicken on Park Avenue in Memphis’ Orange Mound neighborhood when she and Williams had an exchange involving a food order. Williams left the restaurant and later returned, then shot West outside the business. West was taken to a hospital, where she died. The district attorney’s office described the combined punishment as an effective 30-year sentence but did not provide a public breakdown of the individual terms for the two offenses.

The sentence follows more than two years of court proceedings that began after the July 8, 2024, shooting. Memphis police initially sought Williams on a first-degree murder charge. She was taken into custody about a week after West’s death, and a Shelby County grand jury later indicted her. The eventual guilty plea to second-degree murder resolved the case without a trial on the original first-degree accusation. Prosecutors announced the plea and sentence on Sept. 21, 2026. Associate Deputy District Attorney Monica Timmerman prosecuted the case, according to the district attorney’s office.

Investigators said the confrontation began while West was working the restaurant’s drive-thru. An arrest affidavit cited by Memphis news organizations said a customer and West argued over a food order and payment. A friend who was on the phone with West told investigators she could hear the confrontation. According to the affidavit, the customer threatened West during the dispute before driving away. The women were strangers, police later told local news outlets. There was no report that the initial argument became physical. After the vehicle left, West went outside because she was upset and wanted some air, a coworker told police.

What happened next became a central part of the investigation. The friend remained on the phone with West after she walked outside. The affidavit said West noticed the same woman returning to the parking lot and mentioned the distinctive purple hair of the customer from the earlier argument. The friend then heard the confrontation resume, followed by a single gunshot, according to investigators. Restaurant employees called 911. Officers were dispatched to the Park Avenue restaurant and found West wounded in the parking lot. She was transported to Regional One Hospital, where she was pronounced dead later that night.

Police also reviewed surveillance video from the restaurant as they tried to identify the person who had returned to the property. Investigators released images of a woman and a teal-colored sport utility vehicle connected to the case. The public release produced an important lead. A woman who recognized the vehicle contacted police and said she and her 10-year-old son had been riding with Williams earlier that evening when they stopped for food, according to the arrest affidavit. She told investigators that she and the child were present for the drive-thru argument but had been dropped off before the shooting.

The witness told police that Williams had asked whether she and her son were hungry, and the group went to the nearby restaurant because they had coupons. The account in the affidavit described tension while the food was being ordered and said the group ultimately decided not to continue with part of the order. The exchange grew heated at the window, but the witness told police there was no physical confrontation. Williams later drove the mother and child home. According to the witness, Williams said she was going out to get chips to go with their dinner. The witness did not report seeing the shooting and told investigators she learned what had happened after seeing news coverage the following day.

That account helped investigators connect Williams to the vehicle seen at the restaurant, while the surveillance footage and statements from West’s friend and coworkers helped establish the sequence police alleged. Officers found the vehicle outside the witness’s home and seized it as evidence, according to the affidavit. Williams was later taken into custody. At the time of her arrest, the case remained an accusation, and her attorney said the defense was conducting its own investigation. The case eventually moved from the original first-degree murder charge to the second-degree murder conviction established by Williams’ guilty plea.

West’s death left a family mourning a woman they described publicly as dependable, energetic and deeply committed to the people around her. Her parents traveled to Memphis from Colorado after learning of the shooting. They told Action News 5 that West was one of six siblings and had recently missed a family vacation because she was working. Her mother described her as someone who took being on time and meeting her responsibilities seriously, including her responsibilities to customers and coworkers. Her father remembered a daughter whose personality could command a room. West also left behind a daughter who was 12 when the shooting occurred.

Her former husband and high school sweetheart, Loranzo West, likewise spoke about the effect she had on his life and on others. The two had been married for 16 years before divorcing in 2021 and continued to co-parent their daughter. In interviews after the killing, he remembered West as someone whose presence changed the people around her for the better. Those family accounts shifted attention beyond the argument that preceded the shooting, emphasizing the life that ended at the restaurant and the lasting effects on a child, parents, siblings, former spouse and coworkers.

The case also moved through several distinct legal stages. A warrant was issued for Williams on a first-degree murder charge shortly after the shooting, and she was booked July 15, 2024. Her bond hearing was later waived, keeping her in custody while the case advanced. A grand jury subsequently indicted her in connection with West’s death. Local court reporting also showed that Williams had an earlier felony record, including a 2009 case in which she received a three-year prison sentence after an assault involving another woman. That prior felony status formed the basis for the separate firearm offense to which she pleaded guilty in the West case.

The guilty plea removed the need for prosecutors to prove the original murder charge to a jury and established Williams’ criminal responsibility for West’s death through the second-degree murder conviction. The district attorney’s Sept. 21 announcement did not disclose additional conditions of the sentence, a detailed allocation of years between the two convictions or other sentencing findings. It said only that Williams received an effective 30-year sentence after pleading guilty to both offenses. No further trial is required on the resolved charges.

For West’s family, the sentencing closes the central criminal prosecution more than two years after she was killed during a work shift. The official case record now reflects a second-degree murder conviction and a firearm conviction, with Williams facing an effective 30 years in prison. The district attorney’s office has announced no further criminal proceedings in the case.

Author note: Last updated November 7, 2026.