S.C. store owner has shot at suspected shoplifters before
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A store owner in South Carolina charged with murder this week after shooting a teen he wrongly thought stole water has shot at suspected shoplifters two other times in the past eight years and not faced charges, authorities said.
In 2018, Rick Chow confronted a shoplifter at his Xpress Mart Shell station in Columbia and the man attacked him, Richland County deputies said. Chow fired two shots and wounded the man, who pleaded guilty to charges in the case, in the leg. investigators said.
In 2015, Chow fired several shots at a vehicle after he tried to stop someone he suspected of shoplifting, and the suspect got into the vehicle and threatened to shoot Chow, deputies said. No one was hurt.
In both cases, authorities said Chow’s actions were not criminal. Self-defense law in South Carolina requires the shooter doesn’t instigate the incident, believes he is in imminent danger and has no way to avoid that danger.
Deputies decided that was not the case Sunday, when they said Chow and his son chased a 14-year-old from his store and killed him with one shot to the back. Chow is charged with murder and investigators are talking to prosecutors about possible additional charges against Chow or his son, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
Chow thought the boy had shoplifted four bottles of water. But Cyrus Carmack-Belton, who was Black, put the bottles back in the cooler. After an argument, Carmack-Belton ran off the store property and was still running away when he was killed, Sheriff Leon Lott said.
Meanwhile, community are continuing to mourn Carmack-Belton.
A makeshift memorial sits in the same area where Carmack-Belton was shot and killed, growing with flowers, stuffed animals, and even water bottles.
Community say the loss has become a loss for the entire community.
“It’s just sad. That didn’t have to happen,” said 16-year-old Kevin Snyder, one of many adding flowers to a growing makeshift memorial for the teen.
Snyder said this incident hit close to home.
“This really could’ve been me. This could’ve been anybody,” Snyder said, “I think Leon Lott said it best. A bottle of water should not cost a person’s life. Especially a 14-year-old in our community.”
Community are coming together in the midst of the incident, but some say they are also outraged by what took place.
“With this being not only his first but his third infraction me as a citizen and activist want to know why this wasn’t stopped the second time or the first time that this happened,” said community activist John Tyler.
Tyler spoke of a previous incident involving Chow.
In a video that Tyler shared, Chow is seen fighting a young customer.
“It’s happened before but this time was just fatal,” Tyler said.
Several dozen people gathered at the store Monday for a peaceful vigil that included pouring water on the ground, spelling out “Cyrus” with the empty bottles and a sign taped to the locked door reading “Water or Life? Which means more?”
But after dark, deputies said a different group spray-painted the store with “Cyrus” and “14,” broke windows and started stealing beer, cigarettes and other merchandise. Lott said when they find the people he called looters, they will be charged.
The entire gas station is now behind yellow crime scene tape and deputies are watching over it.
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