South Carolina store owner acquitted of murder in 2023 killing of Black teen wrongly suspected of shoplifting

A South Carolina jury on Monday found a store owner not guilty of murder in the 2023 shooting of a Black 14-year-old.

Chikei Rick Chow, 61, who is Asian, shot Cyrus Carmack-Belton in the back after chasing him from his convenience store in Columbia, but maintained he acted to defend his son. The killing sent waves of anguish and grief through the African American community in Richland County, where nearly half the population is Black.

After the verdict was read, sobs and cries of distress could be heard coming from Carmack-Belton’s family seated in the gallery. Chow sat silently frozen before slowly bowing his head onto his interlocked hands.

Prosecutors and a defense lawyer in closing arguments painted different pictures of the 2023 shooting. Prosecutors said Chow acted in anger because he wrongly thought the teen had stolen four bottles of water from the store. A defense lawyer said Chow fired to defend his son, Andy Chow, only after the teen pointed a gun at him.

“This case is not about a shoplifter. This case is about a father who sees a gun pointed at his son and had to make a decision,” defense attorney Shaun Kent told jurors during closing arguments. The defense attorney said Andy Chow testified that Carmack-Belton pointed a gun at him.

Prosecutors acknowledged Carmack-Belton had a semiautomatic pistol, but they say it fell on the ground during the chase, and he never threatened anyone with it. Prosecutors said Chow chased the teen more than 130 yards from the store.

Solicitor Byron E. Gipson told jurors that Chow “chased a kid down, shot him in the back.”

There was no indication that the teen and Chow had a fight in the store before Carmack-Belton ran away, Richland County Coroner Nadia Rutherford said at the time. She also confirmed the teen died from a gunshot wound to the right lower back, “consistent with someone who was running away.”

During closing arguments, Gipson placed a bottle of water before the jurors. Gipson said that Chow “at the end of the day, believed that a human is not more than that.”

Gipson said multiple witnesses testified that they didn’t see anything in Carmack-Belton’s hands and didn’t see him point a gun as he ran from the store.

“Nobody testified that happened that doesn’t have the last name Chow,” Gipson said.

The fatal shooting prompted vigils and protests outside the store. Empty water bottles were arranged to spell out “Cyrus” at one 2023 vigil.

Years before the shooting, Chow shot a shoplifter and opened fire on the vehicle of another shoplifter in separate encounters at his Xpress Mart Shell station, CBS News previously reported. Officials said the earlier incidents were cases of self-defense. 

Officials said officers responded to hundreds of calls for help at Chow’s store between 2018 and 2023, including calls about assaults, larceny, shoplifting, motor vehicle theft, vandalism, robbery, and burglary.