Rick Chow murder trial: What parents need to know about the case
The trial of the former Columbia convenience store owner accused of fatally shooting 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton entered its third day Friday, with jurors hearing testimony that goes to the heart of a question many Midlands parents have asked since May 2023: How did a child suspected of taking bottles of water end up shot in the back?
For families raising Black teenagers in Columbia, the case against Rick Chow has never been an abstract legal matter. It is about a boy who left home with a bookbag, two cell phones — one belonging to his mother — and never came back.
A wrongful suspicion at the center of the case
Prosecutors have been clear from the start: Carmack-Belton did not steal anything from the Shell gas station at 7441 Parklane Road.
In opening statements Wednesday, 5th Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson framed the case in stark terms for the panel of 12 jurors, a mix of young and middle-aged men and women of various races.
“What is the value of human life?” Gipson asked, according to The State’s coverage of opening statements. “Rick Chow, the defendant in this case, determined that Cyrus Carmack-Belton’s life was worth less than four bottles of water.”
The store had what investigators described as an “intricate” and “expensive” video surveillance system. After reviewing the footage, prosecutors determined Cyrus had not taken anything. He can be seen on video casually walking out of the store after being confronted about a suspected theft by Alice Chow — Rick Chow’s wife — and the couple’s son, Andy Chow.
What happened next is what brought this case to trial. Rather than calling police or reviewing the surveillance system they had on hand, Rick and Andy Chow chased Cyrus 130 yards from the gas station, down Springtree Drive, toward an apartment complex.
Cyrus ran so hard he lost a shoe and dropped the two cell phones he was carrying.
What the defendant’s son told the jury
On Friday, the defense called Andy Chow, now 23, as its first witness. He spent nearly three hours on the stand, as defense attorney Shaun Kent walked him through his account of the chase.
Andy told jurors he first noticed Carmack-Belton while stocking shelves. His mother asked the teen to leave his bookbag at the front of the store, to which he complied.
“He goes to the water cooler, and that’s when I think he pockets the water,” Andy testified. “He starts coming to the front, and I ask him if there’s anything in his pocket, and he says no.”
Carmack-Belton was telling the truth. But the Chows pursued him anyway.
Andy testified that as they ran down Springtree Drive, he saw the 14-year-old throw something to the right but did not stop to see what it was. He said the boy tripped and fell “flat” on the grass. When Andy caught up, he said he saw something in the teen’s hand — and as Carmack-Belton began to get up, Andy realized it was a gun.
“He points it at me,” Andy testified. He told jurors he raised his hands, backed away and yelled to his father, “He’s got a gun.” His father, he said, yelled for the teen to drop the gun and then fired a single shot.
Carmack-Belton “took a step or two, dropped the gun and fell to the ground.”
Kent asked Andy how he felt.
“Terrified. I thought (Carmack-Belton) was going to shoot me,” Andy replied.
The disputed claim at the heart of the trial
During cross-examination, Senior Assistant Solicitor Dale Scott pressed Andy.
“Who put you and your father at that location on Springtree Drive?” Scott asked.
“I put myself there,” Andy responded, looking downcast.
“Who put your dad there?” Scott pressed. “Did you drag (your dad) along? Did anybody make (you and your dad) run up a hill 130 yards from your store, leaving the cash register unmanned?”
Andy eventually testified that he and his father pursued the teen on their own.
“The shooting doesn’t happen if everybody stays put in the Shell gas station, correct?” Scott asked.
“Yes sir,” Andy replied.
When Kent on re-direct asked whether the shooting would have happened had Carmack-Belton not pulled a gun, Scott shot back on re-cross: “You don’t even know there’s a gun if you stay in the gas station, right?”
“Yes sir,” Andy answered.
A witness who stayed with Carmack-Belton
Among the prosecution’s witnesses Wednesday was Lori Ann Carson, a grandmother of eight who was pulling into the gas station’s parking lot when she saw the chase.
“He looked frightened and scared,” Carson said of Carmack-Belton. “Just like a child who was in trouble.” She told jurors she did not see anything in his hands as he ran.
Fighting back tears, Carson recalled finding the boy on his back, “gurgling” for air.
“I didn’t know CPR, so I couldn’t help him, and that bothers me to this day,” she said. “All I could do was remove the leaves from his mouth and just stay with him.”
What comes next
The defense rested Friday afternoon after calling three witnesses: Andy Chow, a former sheriff’s deputy and an EMS student who rendered aid to Carmack-Belton. Neither Rick Chow nor Alice Chow will testify.
Closing arguments are expected Monday morning.
If convicted, Rick Chow faces a minimum of 30 years in prison.
For families who have followed this case since May 2023, the verdict will carry weight far beyond the courtroom — a measure of how the justice system values the life of a 14-year-old boy who was simply running home.
The foregoing story is based on reporting by Javon L. Harris and compiled with the help of AI tools, which were edited by journalists. It includes links to full stories that were reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.
