The mother of Cyrus Carmack-Belton, an African-American teen fatally shot after being wrongly accused of shoplifting, is asking for justice. She would like both men connected to her son’s premature demise to be charged with murder— not only the triggerman.
Nikki Cole posted her feelings about Rick Chow, the Columbia, South Carolina, Shell gas station owner that shot Carmack-Belton, and his son Andy, who helped chase him down to his death on Sunday, May 28 around 8 p.m.
Cole took to social media during the Father’s Day weekend, calling for officials to expand the list of who should be responsible for ending her son’s life.
“My son Cyrus Monroe Carmack-Belton was murdered May 28, 2023,” she captioned the Facebook post. “Rick Chow racially profiled and falsely accused Cyrus of stealing. Rick Chow and his son Andy Chow chased my 14 yr. old son off the gas station property and down Springtree Dr. shooting him in the back. Rick Chow was arrested but his son remains free. (Andy Chow initiated the chase of my beloved son).”
Cole continued to ask her network of influence to contact the Solicitor of the Fifth Circuit Byron Gipson and demand that they consider the son and the father for murder in Carmack-Belton’s slaying.
The elder Chow is currently facing a murder charge and remains detained at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.
The Chows believed the 14-year-old stole four water bottles out of the cooler from their South Carolina convenience store during Memorial Day weekend.
Chow’s son allegedly told his father that the teenager was armed.
While deputies said the young man did not have a weapon, they allegedly found a firearm near Carmack-Belton’s body following the shooting.
As the two men chased after the teen, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott noted that he tripped and fell. The fall was temporary. He was able to get up and keep running.
According to Law and Crime, Lott said the young teen’s death was “disturbing,” and confirmed to the press that he also “did not shoplift anything.”
When talking about the incident, deputies said there was “no evidence that he stole anything whatsoever.”
“The son of the owner of the convenience store gave chase. The father who owns the convenience store joined in the chase. He was armed with a pistol,” Lott explained.
Adding, Carmack-Belton “was not even on the property of the store” when Chow shot him.
Authorities said the father fired his weapon, killing the high school student in an apartment complex.
“At that point the father shot the young man in the back,” Lott said. “He was not laying on the ground. He did not have his hands up.”
According to Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford, Cyrus was shot once in the right lower back.
During a memorial in tribute to the young man’s life, one person lifted a sign: “Water or Life? Which Means More?”
Lott shared shoplifters have troubled this particular store in the past, even attacking members of his family. In fact, Chow has had two different instances, one in 2015 and another in 2018, where he shot shoplifters for allegedly stealing from his business, according to the State.
“There’s been many instances there, where this store owner has confronted people that’s been shoplifting,” Lott said.
“There’s been assaults on his family, too,” the sheriff said. “He has not been charged in any of these other cases because they did not rise to the level where he should have been charged.”
The issue that is challenging investigators under Lott’s leadership is that it is unclear if the teen had a gun.
Officials have a consensus that there was some sort of confrontation that happened inside the convenience store. The sheriff said they had to make sure, through their investigation, that the young man did not point a gun at them, leaving them to “be in fear of their life.”
Though issues around Carmack-Belton remained cloudy, Lott said what was clear was “Rick Chow shot this young man in the back and he killed him.”
“You don’t shoot someone in the back who’s not a threat to you. That’s the same standard that we do — the same standard that cops live by. You have to be defending someone’s life or your life, and there has to be an immediate danger to you at that point and someone who is running away, and there’s no indication that he was pointing a gun at anybody when he was running away, he was shot in the back,” Lott added.
