WS Chronicle

Maurice Evans Jr. sentenced to more than 20 years for fatal 2021 shooting  

Winston-Salem teenager Maurice Travon Evans Jr. has been sentenced for the 2021 shooting at Mount Tabor High School that took the life of his classmate, William Chavis Renard Miller Jr.  

According to the Forsyth County District Attorney’s Office, Evans plead guilty to second-degree murder. On Thursday, March 20, Forsyth County Superior Court Judge Aaron Berlin sentenced Evans to a minimum of 22 years in prison. Both Evans and Miller were 15 years old at the time of the shooting.  

Here’s what we know: around lunch time on Wednesday, Sept. 1, members of the Winston-Salem Police Department (WSPD) and Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to Mount Tabor on reports of shots fired inside the school. Mount Tabor and other schools nearby were placed on lockdown. 

Upon arrival law enforcement located Miller near the cafeteria suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center where he died after being treated for his injuries.  

In court it was determined that on that day Evans walked up to Miller outside of a classroom and shot him once in the chest. Evans ran out of the school, placing the gun in a book bag that police found in a nearby trash can.  

Following the shooting a rally was held in downtown Winston-Salem to call for an end to senseless violence. There were several speakers during the rally, including former president of the Winston-Salem NAACP, Al Jabbar. Jabbar said we must begin to show love and learn conflict resolution skills.  

“We should learn how to resolve our issues with conversations and there’s some areas in our community and our city that we must begin to show love,” Jabaar said. “When a person feels it necessary to resolve a conflict by picking up a weapon and taking another’s life, there’s a lack of love.”