In a devastating and surprising verdict, the South Carolina jury found store owner Chikei Rick Chow not guilty of murdering 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton, shooting him in the back after chasing him from his convenience store in Colum-bia. He maintained he acted to defend his son.
“It’s tragic. I feel sorry for the family,” defense attorney Jack Swerling told reporters. “My heart goes out to them, but 14-year-old kids should not be roaming the streets of Columbia, South Carolina, with semi-automatic pistols loaded and ready to fire.
After the verdict was read, sobs and cries of distress could be heard coming from Car-mack-Belton’s family, seated in the gallery. Chow sat silently, frozen before slowly bowing his head onto his interlocked hands.
The incident occurred in 2023 when Cyrus en-tered the Shell gas station store in Richland County, Colombia, a predominantly Black community, and that’s where Chow and his son, Andy, accused the teen of shoplifting water, and the confrontation escalated into a chase stretching more than 130 yards down the road, according to reports from USA TODAY.
“This case is not about a shoplifter. This case is about a father who sees a gun pointed at his son and has to make a decision,” defense attorney Shaun Kent told jurors during closing arguments.
Defense testimony stated that Carmack-Belton tripped, spun around, and pointed a 9mm pistol equipped with a laser directly at them during the chase. Chow reportedly fired a single round from his .45-caliber Glock, striking Belton in the back and killing him. In that instant, the defense maintained, Chow fired in a desperate attempt to save his son’s life, a narrative they argued justified the fatal shot.
Surveillance footage later debunked the accu-sation that sparked the deadly chase, according to multiple news reports. Chow shot him in the back as he was running away, authorities said in 2023. A gun was found near Cyrus’ body, but the sheriff said at the time that the boy did not point it or brandish it before he was shot.
This case is reminiscent of Latasha Harlin’s murder back in the 90s, as she was fatally shot at age 15 in Los Angeles by Soon Ja Du, a 49-year-old Korean American convenience store owner. Du was tried and convicted of voluntary manslaughter over the killing, based in part on security camera footage. The judge sentenced Du to 10 years in state prison, but the sentence was suspended, and the defendant was instead placed on five years’ probation with 400 hours of community service, payment of $500 restitution, and Harlin’s funeral costs. The sentencing was widely regarded as extremely light. It reportedly contributed to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, especially the targeting of Koreatown.
Solicitor Byron E. Gipson told jurors that Chow “chased a kid down and shot him in the back.”
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 case against Chow is legally closed, and double jeopardy prevents him from being tried again on the same charge. The Carmack-Belton family and their attorney, Todd Rutherford, con-firmed that they would continue pursuing a civil lawsuit against Chow, shifting the battle from the criminal courtroom to the civil arena.
