SC store owner waged ‘mob-like assault’ on customer, 14, before killing him, lawsuit says
A Columbia convenience store owner and his son engaged in a “mob-like assault” last year on 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton, whom they falsely accused of trying to steal bottles of water, before the owner shot and killed the teen, according to a lawsuit.
Fearing for his life during the confrontation, Carmack-Belton ran from the Xpress Mart on Parklane Road, pursued by the store owner and his son. After the teen fell and got back up, store owner Rick Chow shot Carmack-Belton in the back, killing him, according to the lawsuit filed earlier this month.
“A 14-year-old boy who was accused of stealing bottles of water from a convenience store (had) adults decide they were going to bully, harass and intimidate him all the way to the point where they killed him by shooting him in the back,” said attorney Austin Nichols.
The teen’s parents are now suing the Chow family, alleging wrongful death and a slew of other claims, according to the lawsuit. Rick Chow awaits trial in the May 28, 2023, killing of Carmack-Belton.
Troy Belton and Nicole Carmack-Belton filed the lawsuit this month against Chow as well as his son and wife, Andy and Alice Chow, and several entities owned by Chow.
The parents are represented by Nichols and Todd Rutherford, both of the Rutherford Law Firm, who are asking a civil court to award the family damages for wrongful death, gross negligence, negligent/intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, kidnapping and several other claims.
During the Memorial Day weekend in 2023, Cyrus Carmack-Belton entered the Xpress Mart, a gas station and convenience store at 7441 Parklane Road, where he ”began to be racially profiled, monitored, followed, and harassed by Rick, Andy, and Alice Chow,” the lawsuit said.
Alice Chow alerted Rick and Andy Chow that Carmack-Belton was stealing bottles of water by placing them into his book bag, according to the suit. Rick and Andy Chow confronted and accused Carmack-Belton of shoplifting, to which Carmack-Belton repeatedly denied.
“Rick and Andy Chow continued to intimidate Cyrus Carmack-Belton, towering over him, demanding he open his bag and allow the two men to search him, and physically prevented Cyrus Carmack-Belton from exiting the premises,” the lawsuit said.
Fearing for his life, Carmack-Belton then bolted for the store’s exit and began sprinting down the street with Rick and Andy Chow in pursuit
During the “mob-like assault,” Rick Chow pointed a gun at Carmack-Belton, placing him “in a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury,” according to the lawsuit.
“Cyrus Carmack-Belton sprinted so hard that he fell, got up and continued to run, dropped his bag, and ran out of his shoes in fear of Rick Chow and Andy Chow,” the suit said.
As Carmack-Belton continued to run, he was fatally shot in the back by Rick Chow.
The State was unable to contact Andy and Alice Chow. The State also attempted to contact Jack Swerling, who is representing Rick Chow on the murder charge.
During a bond hearing last year — where Chow was denied bond — Swerling claimed Chow acted in self-defense, saying Carmack-Belton turned first and pointed a gun at Rick Chow as Carmack-Belton was running away from Chow and his son.
Swerling argued that Chow was protected under the state’s stand-your-ground law, which allows a person to act in self-defense under certain circumstances.
But witnesses never saw Carmack-Belton wielding a gun, Rutherford said. Additionally, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott never established that Carmack-Belton was armed during the incident, despite Swerling arguing that law enforcement officers found a pistol near Carmack-Belton.
Beyond that, Richland County sheriff’s deputies discovered that Carmack-Belton hadn’t stolen anything from the store.
“Even if (Carmack-Belton) 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 had done that, that’s not something you shoot anybody over, much less a 14-year-old,” Lott said at a news conference at the time of the shooting. “You just don’t do that.”
Community members told law enforcement authorities that Rick, Andy and Alice Chow had a habit of intimidating, harassing and threatening store patrons, some of which they wrongfully accused of shoplifting, the lawsuit said.
This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
