On the evening of May 28, 2023, 14-year-old Cyrus Monroe Carmack-Belton was shot and killed after a confrontation at the Xpress Mart Shell on Parklane Road in Columbia, South Carolina. Store owner Rick Chow accused the Black teenager of shoplifting four bottles of water; surveillance later showed Carmack-Belton had returned the items to the cooler. After a verbal altercation, Carmack-Belton ran from the store and was pursued by Chow and Chow’s son for about 500 feet. According to reports, Chow’s son said he saw a gun; Chow then fired one shot that struck Carmack-Belton in the right lower back. A gun was found near the boy’s body, but investigators reported no evidence that he had pointed it at Chow or his son. The Richland County Coroner ruled the death a homicide caused by a gunshot wound that damaged the heart and caused fatal hemorrhage.

Rick Chow, 58, was arrested and charged with murder and held without bond after a judge denied his attorneys’ motion to apply South Carolina’s Stand Your Ground defense, finding the facts did not meet the law’s requirements because Carmack-Belton was shot while running away. Cyrus Carmack-Belton’s family has also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Chow and his family. If anyone witnessed the chase or the shooting, or has information about what happened inside the store that evening, please come forward.