Looks like a South Carolina gas station owner was charged with murder in the death of a 14-year-old boy Black teenager. Storeowner Rick Chow reportedly chased Cyrus Carmack-Belton and then shot him in the back, according to law enforcement officials.
Chow, 58, claims he thought the teenager had stolen four bottles of water Sunday night from his Xpress Mart Shell station in Columbia. However, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott stated that Carmack-Belton put the bottles back in the cooler and was away from the store’s property when he was killed.
A gun was allegedly found near the teenager’s body. Chow’s son, who also was involved in chasing after Carmack-Belton, told his father he was armed. Lott has said there was no evidence the teen ever pointed the weapon at Chow or his son. Chow, who had a concealed weapons permit, was charged with murder after an autopsy showed that Carmack-Belton was shot in the back. In addition, deputies interviewed witnesses and reviewed surveillance footage and other video. Chow is being held in the Richland County jail as he awaits a bond hearing. He turned himself in with an attorney Monday, deputies said.
Richland County Coroner Nadia Rutherford explained that there weren’t any signs that Carmack-Belton was fighting with Chow before he ran out of the store. In addition, there was no injury to his body other than an abrasion from falling and the gunshot wound.
Rutherford also said that Carmack-Belton was running when the bullet went through his back and into his heart. “I was at the autopsy I looked at his body inside and outside. He had one shot to the back which is why Mr. Chow is being charged with murder,” she stated.
Lott acknowledged how heinous Chow’s alleged behavior was. “Even if he had shoplifted four bottles of water, which he had taken out of the cooler and then put back — even if he had done that, that’s not something you should shoot anybody over, much less a 14-year-old,” he stated.