“I hope she makes peace”: Ex-husband of Church’s Chicken shooting victim reacts after suspect arrested
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The ex-husband of a Church’s Chicken employee gunned down outside an Orange Mound restaurant last week is relieved the alleged shooter has been arrested.
Church’s Chicken shooting suspect turns herself in
Monica Williams, 45, was wanted for first-degree murder for the killing of Anitra West. A police source said Williams turned herself in Monday. MPD confirmed Williams was in custody.
“Good job, police department, good job, Facebook people, putting all that information out there,” said Lorenzo West Jr. “We are looking forward to seeing the law work its way out, you know?”
Police said West was shot in the head in the parking lot of Church’s Chicken on Park Avenue on July 8.
According to the complaint affidavit, West was working the drive-through window when she argued with Williams because she did not pay for her food.
Police said West walked outside the business to cool off, and that’s when Williams returned in her teal-colored SUV and opened fire. The SUV was recovered a day later on Deadrick Avenue in Orange Mound.
Investigators said West was on the phone with a friend during the entire incident, and the friend heard the customer West was arguing with in the drive-through yell, “I will kill you.”
The friend said after West went outside, West stated, “girl, this same girl with purple hair I just got into it with just pulled back up on the parking lot.”
The friend said she heard West yell out, “go to jail, then hoe,” and then a single gunshot.
Church’s Chicken employee shot to death outside restaurant
“I hope she turned herself in, but it’s OK. We are moving forward and trying to figure out how to make some life going forward,” West said. “Whatever happens with her is up to the judge -between God and the judge, you know? And we’ll see. We are just trying to tend to my daughter Zoe and mend fences and families and trying to love each other.”
Anitra West left behind a 12-year-old daughter, but West said she was also a mother to dozens of young people she worked with at various restaurants and businesses over the years.
“It was her pleasure. That was her calling. She didn’t do anything but speak life to people. Actually, one of the police officers who responded to her was somebody who used to work with her,” West said.
‘She was a good girl:’ Family remembers woman killed in shooting at Church’s Chicken
After MPD released pictures of the person wanted in connection to the shooting on its Facebook page, social media sleuths began identifying Williams as the person in the photos. Two days later, police issued a warrant for Williams’s arrest.
“I hope she makes peace and asks God for forgiveness. That’s all I can hope for,” said West. “We are not real big at punishing people down here because there’s a lot of people walking around with murder charges taking care of their family every day, you know?”
In 2009, Williams was convicted of stabbing a pregnant woman with a butcher knife. According to court records, Williams tried to stab the woman in her stomach, but the victim turned and was stabbed in the back. Williams also hit the pregnant woman in the stomach, head, and neck with a tree branch.
Williams pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and received a three-year sentence.
Williams is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.
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