South Carolina jury acquits store owner in killing of Black teen

A Richland County jury cleared Rick Chow of murder in the killing of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton after about 7.5 to 9 hours of deliberation, ending a trial that turned a Columbia convenience-store shooting into a test of how South Carolina law treats fear, force and suspicion.

Jurors returned the verdict on Monday, June 1, 2026, after three days of testimony and closing arguments. Chow, 61, had been accused of fatally shooting Carmack-Belton in the back on May 28, 2023, outside Chow’s Shell/Xpress Mart on Parklane Road in Columbia after a confrontation tied to the mistaken belief that the teen had stolen four bottles of water.

Prosecutors cast the shooting as an unprovoked act and called it “heinous.” The defense argued that Chow acted to defend his son during the chase, a claim that put the jurors in the middle of a common but difficult legal question: when a frightened store owner says he was protecting family and property, where does self-defense end and criminal responsibility begin?

The verdict landed hard with Carmack-Belton’s family. Courtroom reporting described sobs and cries from the gallery as the decision was read, while Chow remained expressionless. The family’s attorney said the family was struggling to understand the acquittal and planned to continue a civil lawsuit, keeping the fight over the shooting alive even after the criminal case ended.

The case had already become a flashpoint in Columbia’s Black community and beyond. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said in 2023 that Carmack-Belton had been wrongly suspected of shoplifting and that Chow shot him in the back. The sheriff’s office also said Chow had prior confrontations involving suspected shoplifters in 2015 and 2018, details that added to public concern about how quickly retail disputes can escalate when guns are involved.

Carmack-Belton’s death entered a broader national pattern that has repeatedly raised questions about racial profiling, store security and the use of deadly force against Black teenagers. For many in Columbia, the legal outcome reflected the burden prosecutors carry in proving murder beyond a reasonable doubt; for the victim’s family and supporters, it deepened the sense that the system had fallen short of justice.