Gas station owner charged with killing Columbia teen to remain in jail after bond denied

Rick Chow, the convenience store owner charged with shooting and killing a Black teenager in Columbia, has been denied bond.

Chow is accused of killing 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton after he believed, incorrectly, that Belton had stolen a bottle of water from his convenience store at the Shell gas station on Parklane Road near Springtree Drive.

Chow, 58, will remain incarcerated following the hearing Friday morning in front of Richland County General Sessions Judge Jocelyn Newman. He has been held in an isolation cell at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center since shortly after the fatal Memorial Day shooting.

There was dueling testimony at the bond hearing, as friends and family of Chow testified about his good character, while family members of Carmack-Belton’s family spoke about the pain of the teen’s death.

Chow’s attorney, Jack Swerling, argued that Carmack-Belton turned and pointed a gun at Chow’s son before Chow fired at the teen.

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.

Columbia attorney Todd Rutherford, who is representing Carmack-Belton’s family in a wrongful death suit against Chow, rebuked Swerling’s argument in a press briefing for reporters Friday.

“What we heard today was a recitation of facts from Mr. Chow that was disturbing at best,” Rutherford said. “Mr. Chow fabricated a story in reverse to try and cover his own lies.”

Law enforcement found a pistol near the Carmack-Belton, according to Swerling. But Rutherford asserted witnesses have said they never saw Carmack-Belton holding a gun.

“They are clear on the fact that Cyrus certainly never turned around and pointed a gun at anybody,” Rutherford said.

Carmack-Belton was shot in the back after an argument between the two inside Chow’s store, according to Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who said there was no evidence that the teen had shoplifted.

“We have no evidence that he stole anything, whatsoever,” Lott has said.

The sheriff said the teen at one point removed four water bottles from a cooler but put them back. An argument started inside the store, the sheriff said, and the 14-year-old took off running from the store.

Chow and his son chased after the teen, Lott said. Chow was armed with a pistol, the sheriff said. The chase was toward the nearby Springtree Apartments off Springtree Drive.

Lott said that, during the chase, the victim fell down and got back up. At that point, Chow shot Carmack-Belton in the back, Lott said.

“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. “You just don’t do that.”

Rutherford and Carmack-Belton’s family have repeatedly asked for charges to also be brought against Chow’s son, who was present when Carmack-Belton was shot. Camack-Belton’s family is also pursuing a wrongful death suit in civil court against Chow. Rutherford has said that action is still in the early stages but that the family is hoping for a jury trial and some form of damages.

Who is Rick Chow?

In his argument to the court, Swerling said that Chow was not a flight risk and should be released from jail.

The veteran defense attorney said that Chow, who was born in Hong Kong and who obtained his bachelor’s degree and PhD in computer science at Louisiana State University before going on to teach at the University of South Carolina Upstate, had contributed to the community and the state of South Carolina.

Chow taught computer science at USC Upstate for 17 years, Swerling said, before he and his wife, an accountant, decided to buy the gas station. The couple had two sons in their 20s and owned their home.

“His family is here. He’s not going anywhere,” Swerling told The State.

Following the shooting, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department released information about two previous occasions when Chow allegedly shot at people he believed were shoplifting. In 2015, Chow reportedly fired six shots into the side of a vehicle to prevent shoplifting. In 2018, Chow fired a shot that struck a person the sheriff’s department called a shoplifter in the leg. That individual pleaded guilty to “charges stemming from this incident,” according to the sheriff’s department.