Who is Rick Chow?
A Columbia convenience store owner is charged with murder in the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy. According to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, Rick Chow, owner of the Shell gas station on Parklane Road in Columbia, chased Cyrus Carmack-Belton from his store around 8 p.m. Sunday night, shooting him just down the street in the 200 block of Springtree Drive.
“It doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make sense,” Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said at a Memorial Day news conference. “You have a family that is grieving, we have a community that is grieving for a 14-year-old boy who was shot.” The owner suspected Carmack-Belton of shoplifting from inside the store, which RCSD has said did not happen. RCSD reviewed surveillance footage as part of this investigation.
Rick Chow: Store owner charged with murder
“Regardless, even if he had stolen four bottles of water, which is what he initially took out of the cooler and then put back, even if he had, that’s not something you would shoot at anyone, much less a 14-year-old. old, but you just don’t do that,” Sheriff Lott said. At one point, there was a verbal confrontation inside the store, but there is no indication things turned physical, deputies say.
Chow, 58, and his son chased Carmack-Belton down the street. The teen fell but got up and ran, Lott said. Chow’s son told his father that Carmack-Belton was armed, according to RCSD. Agents recovered a weapon believed to belong to the victim near his body. RCSD said there is no evidence that Carmack-Belton singled out or threatened Chow.
Lott said Carmack-Belton was running when he was shot. Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford said she had a gunshot wound to her lower right back. Linda Suber, who lives nearby, saw Carmack-Belton lying on the ground Sunday night. “It’s sad, it’s sad,” she said. “If they had seen that baby laying there, that’s all I can say.”
Suber’s son, Tavaris Bell, was murdered on Broad River Road in 2006. “Just to see him laying there, I couldn’t see my son laying where he was killed, but I did see him at the hospital, it just brought back memories,” Suber said. A woman who saw the shooting and called 911 said she wants justice.
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She requested anonymity to speak candidly about the shooting and her experiences at the gas station.
“Do you even want to go to the store now because anything can happen now these days, and everyone is getting happy,” she said. “I really hope he gets justice for that because that young man didn’t have to die like this. But to witness that yesterday, I’m scared for my own brother and for any of the kids that are in my neighborhood because these kids are out all the time, they come to this store all the time. Now it’s like now you have to take care of your children.
Lott said there have been incidents and confrontations between customers and the owners of this store before, but nothing to the level of charging Chow in any of those incidents. Several people described Chow as “unpleasant” and rude to customers. Several community organizations and anti-gun violence advocates rallied around the gas station on Monday.
The store was closed Monday, with a sign reading: “We are closed for Memorial Day. Sorry for the inconvenience!” A protester had pasted a cardboard sign on the door, which read: “Water or life? What does more mean?
Rutherford provided an update to the crowd shortly after 3 p.m. m., and there was loud applause when Chow’s indictment was announced. WIS spoke to one of Carmack-Belton’s brothers on Monday. He said that his family, especially his mother, is devastated. Carmack-Belton was a good boy, very smart and he didn’t deserve what happened to him, his brother said.
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