Store Owner Charged For Fatally Shooting Black Teen He Wrongfully-Accused of Stealing

Another young Black life was lost when a store owner in South Carolina shot and killed a teen after falsely accusing the teenager of shoplifting.

According to NBC News, South Carolina convenience store owner Rick Chow was arrested after he chased and killed 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton after accusing him of stealing from his store.

Law enforcement stated there was no evidence that Carmack-Belton did anything wrong and did not steal anything from the convenience store.

“He did not shoplift anything,” Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott informed reporters during a press conference. “We have no evidence that he stole anything whatsoever,” Lott continued.

The killing occurred in Columbia, South Carolina, at Chow’s convenience store on Parklane Road around 8 p.m. A dispute ensued between the teenager, Chow, and his son. Lott said Carmack-Belton eventually left the store and started running away. Chow’s son went after the boy as he sprinted toward a nearby apartment complex while trying to get away. He stumbled but got back up as the pair continued to pursue him.

Chow’s son said Carmack-Belton had a gun when the owner shot him in the back while he was running from the store. Lott also said a gun was discovered next to the teenager’s body.

He was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford said the gunshot wound caused hemorrhaging and significant damage to the 14-year-old’s heart.

Although Carmack-Belton was Black and the Chows are Asian, police have stated it was “not a bias-motivated incident.”

The sheriff admonished Chow for his action.

“It’s senseless,” Lott said. “It doesn’t make sense. You have a family that’s grieving. We have a community that’s grieving over a 14-year-old who was shot.”

“Regardless, even if he had shoplifted four bottles of water, which is what he initially took out the cooler and then he put them back, even if he had done that, that’s not — that’s not something you shoot anybody over, much less a 14-year-old,” Lott said.

Several neighborhood residents protested outside the store, and the store was ransacked as people took things off the shelves. The store owner is currently in police custody at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, the sheriff’s office reported.