A South Carolina jury acquitted convenience-store owner Chikei Rick Chow of murder in the 2023 shooting death of Cyrus Carmack-Belton, a Black 14-year-old. Chow had pursued the teenager away from his Columbia store and shot him in the back, but maintained that he fired because he believed his son faced an armed threat.
The verdict ended a trial built around sharply different interpretations of the chase and the moment Chow pulled the trigger. Prosecutors said the 61-year-old defendant reacted in anger after mistakenly believing Carmack-Belton had stolen four bottles of water. They argued that Chow followed the teenager for more than 130 yards before killing him.
The state acknowledged that Carmack-Belton possessed a semiautomatic pistol but said the weapon fell to the ground during the pursuit. Prosecutors maintained that the teenager never threatened anyone with it. Multiple witnesses testified that they saw nothing in his hands and did not see him aim a firearm while fleeing, solicitor Byron E. Gipson told the jury. Gipson framed the case as an unjustified pursuit ending with a child shot from behind.
Defence attorney Shaun Kent offered a different account. He said Chow faced a sudden decision after the teenager pointed a gun toward Chow’s son, Andy. Andy Chow testified that Carmack-Belton had aimed the weapon at him. The defence therefore asked jurors to assess the shooting as an attempt by a father to protect his child, rather than a response to suspected shoplifting.
The jury accepted the defence sufficiently to return a not-guilty verdict. Chow remained still as it was announced, then lowered his head onto his clasped hands. Members of Carmack-Belton’s family cried out and sobbed from the courtroom gallery. The source account did not report comments from jurors explaining how they resolved the conflicting testimony.
Carmack-Belton’s death had caused anguish in Richland County’s African American community, which makes up nearly half of the local population. Residents held protests and vigils outside Chow’s store after the 2023 killing. At one memorial, mourners arranged empty water bottles to spell the teenager’s first name, connecting the tribute to the mistaken theft allegation described by prosecutors.
The acquittal represented a legal finding that the state had not secured a murder conviction; it did not erase the facts that were uncontested at trial, including the chase and fatal shot. The emotional reaction in court reflected the enduring divide between the jury’s verdict and a family and community that had mobilised around Carmack-Belton’s death for three years. That divide was audible in the courtroom when the decision was read.
