South Carolina Store Owner Charged With Murder After Shooting Of 14-Year-Old Boy

Cyrus Carmack-Belton, a 14-year-old Black middle school student, went into an Xpress Mart Shell convenience store in Columbia, South Carolina at around 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 28, 2023. The boy picked up four bottles of water from a cooler while in the store, then he put them back. After this, Rick Chow, the 58-year-old store owner, confronted Carmack-Belton and accused him of stealing, although police who reviewed surveillance footage say the boy didn’t steal anything.

After the false accusation, Carmack-Belton was apparently fearful and fled. Chow and his son then followed and chased the child. Chow was armed with a pistol during the chase, according to CNN. At one point, Carmack-Belton fell after he ran out of his shoe, but he stood back up and kept running.

“At some point, the son said … that the victim had a gun – and we did recover a gun that was close to his body. At that point, the father shot the young man in the back,” stated the sheriff’s department in the incident report.

While the boy was running away, Chow allegedly pulled out his Glock 30S and shot Carmack-Belton in the back.

"It's senseless. It doesn't make sense. We have a family that's grieving. We have a community that's grieving over a 14-year-old that was shot," Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said in a press conference.

Explaining how the child wasn’t threatening the store owner and his son, Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford told USA Today, "There’s no evidence showing that he was waving that gun around, there's no evidence showing he was brandishing it in any capacity.”

Carmack-Belton was shot once in his right lower back as he fled. Although a bystander tried to perform lifesaving measures on the child, he died from the gunshot wound, and his death was ruled a homicide.

According to ABC News 4, State Rep. Todd Rutherford, who is serving as the Carmack-Belton family’s attorney, said in a statement that he is fighting to ensure that this part of history isn’t whitewashed or forgotten. He added, “This isn’t an anomaly, but I know America can be better. And that is what we’re fighting for. Because no family should have to deal with this in 2023.”

Chow has been arrested and charged in the boy’s murder. He is being held without bond at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

The Rutherford Law Firm has set up a GoFundMe page to help Cyrus Carmack-Belton’s family with funeral and memorial costs.