Store Owner Killed Boy Over a Water Bottle But Sheriff Says He "Did Not Shoplift Anything"

A South Carolina convenience store owner has been charged with murder after fatally shooting a 14-year-old boy he claimed was shoplifting. But authorities say the boy wasn't stealing anything. On May 30, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott called the facts of the case "very disturbing." Read on to find out what happened during the shooting and why authorities felt confident enough to charge the shooter with murder. 

Police said that around 8 pm on May 29, 58-year-old Rick Chow had a verbal confrontation with Cyrus Carmack-Belton inside a Shell gas station in Columbia. The teen "took off running," Chow's son ran after him, then Chow joined the chase, armed with a pistol, the sheriff said.  "The owners of the convenience store suspected him of shoplifting," Lott said. "He did not shoplift anything. We have no evidence that he stole anything whatsoever."

Chow chased Carmack-Belton off the gas station's property to a nearby apartment complex, where he shot the teen in the back, the sheriff said. There was no evidence of shoplifting, a physical confrontation, or that the 14-year-old had pointed a gun at the suspect, he added.  "At some point, the [suspect's] son said that he had a gun — that the victim had a gun — and we did recover a gun that was close to his body," said Lott. "At that point the father shot the young man in the back. He was not laying on the ground. He did not have his hands up."

Even if Carmack-Belton had stolen water bottles, the sheriff said, it would not justify a fatal shooting.  "Even if he had shoplifted four bottles of water, which is what he initially took out of the cooler and then he put them back, even if he'd done that, that's not something you shoot anybody over, much less a 14-year-old," said Lott.

The sheriff noted that Chow's store had been repeatedly targeted by shoplifters, resulting in confrontations.  "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. 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. Last night it rose to that level, and that's why he's charged with murder today."

The sheriff said that even though Carmack-Belton had a gun, the shooting was not justified. "What clouded the issue is that the victim did have a gun. There was a confrontation. We had to make sure that those who fired the shots did not have that gun pointed at them, and they did not — in legal terms — be in fear of their life," the sheriff said. "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," said Lott. "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."

According to the sheriff, Chow had a concealed weapons permit and his gun was legally owned. His first court appearance is set for June 23.  WIST-TV reported that Chow's store had been vandalized with graffiti, windows were broken, and items were stolen. "This type of criminal behavior will not be tolerated," the sheriff said. "Individuals involved will be identified and prosecuted."