South Carolina Jury Finds Store Owner Not Guilty in 2023

A South Carolina jury found convenience store owner Chikei "Rick" Chow not guilty of murder on Monday in the 2023 fatal shooting of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton. The verdict followed a five-day trial at the Richland County Courthouse in Columbia.

The shooting occurred on May 28, 2023, after Chow and his son, Andy, chased Carmack-Belton from their Parklane Road store. Prosecutors stated the pursuit covered more than 130 yards. Chow, 61, shot the teenager in the back, a wound the coroner said was consistent with someone running away.

During closing arguments, prosecutors and defense attorneys presented starkly different accounts of the incident. Prosecutors argued Chow acted out of anger after wrongly believing Carmack-Belton had stolen four bottles of water. Solicitor Byron E. Gipson told jurors Chow "chased a kid down, shot him in the back." He placed a water bottle before the jury, asserting that Chow had valued the teenager's life as less than the merchandise.

The defense argued the shooting was an act of self-defense to protect Chow's son. Defense attorney Shaun Kent said the case was not about shoplifting but about "a father who sees a gun pointed at his son and had to...