Memphis woman gets into a dispute over a Church’s Chicken drive-thru order. She leaves without her food, then comes back with a handgun

Monica Williams has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the fatal 2024 shooting of 48-year-old fast-food employee Anitra West in Memphis, Tennessee, following a dispute over a drive-thru order. On Sept. 18, Williams pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

According to Us Weekly, the incident happened on the evening of July 8, 2024, at a Church’s Texas Chicken restaurant on Park Avenue in Memphis’ historic Orange Mound neighborhood. West was working her shift at the restaurant when a disagreement over a food order quickly took a much darker turn.

Prosecutors said Williams pulled into the restaurant’s drive-thru, where she and West had a brief verbal exchange over the order. The exact details of what went wrong remain unclear. What is known is that Williams initially drove away from the window without paying for or receiving any food.

The shooter approached her on foot

That could have been the end of it. Instead, Williams returned to the restaurant a short time later, this time carrying a handgun.

By then, West had stepped away from the kitchen and was outside the building, taking a short break and getting some fresh air. Williams approached her on foot. During the confrontation, an outside witness and a friend who was on a live phone call with West heard a customer yell, “I will kill you!” Multiple gunshots followed.

West was struck and collapsed. She was rushed to a nearby hospital by emergency medical personnel but died from her injuries. Authorities later confirmed that the two women did not know each other before their encounter at the drive-thru.

The state’s case was led by Shelby County Associate Deputy District Attorney Monica Timmerman. Williams ultimately pleaded guilty, avoiding a longer trial process, and a criminal court judge formally handed down the 30-year sentence on Sept. 18.

For West’s family, the sentence brings some legal closure, but it cannot undo what happened. Her parents, Bruce and Anthonette Stevens, were present for the proceedings and remembered their daughter as a vibrant, deeply loving person whose personality “could just fill up the room.”

She was always going above and beyond

They also spoke about how seriously West took her job. According to her parents, she regularly put her work shifts ahead of family plans and did not want to leave her colleagues short-staffed. In one especially painful detail, they said West had even skipped a recent family vacation because she refused to call out of work.

It is a detail that makes the circumstances of her death even harder to process. A disagreement over a fast-food order ended with a woman losing her life.

The case also highlights the risks faced by workers who deal with the public every day. Arguments over incorrect orders, long waits or missing items can become heated, and there have been cases where those frustrations have gone far beyond yelling.

For West’s family, this was not just another difficult interaction with a customer. It was the last shift their daughter would ever work. Now, they are left remembering the woman they say could “fill up the room” while Williams begins a 30-year prison sentence for her death.