Records show how often thefts occurred at Columbia gas station where owner allegedly shot teen

Shoplifting occurred on average every two and a half to three months at the Shell gas station owned by Rick Chow in the years leading up to the May shooting death by Chow of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton, according to incident reports obtained by The State from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

Carmack-Belton was falsely accused of shoplifting and then fatally shot outside the gas station May 28. Following the shooting, The State newspaper requested incident reports taken by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department between Jan. 1, 2020, and the end of May 2023 at 7441 Parklane Road, where the Shell gas station Chow owns is located.

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department provided reports for 55 calls for service at that address during that period.

The reported incidents included 15 thefts, an average of about one every 83 days, or just over four thefts per year.

Of those reports, not one involved a situation in which Chow or his employees were threatened with a gun. One report details a physical assault on Chow and his family in late 2022.

Theft reports

Of the 55 incidents at the store, four were for larceny cases in which a patron was accused of stealing beer or wine and in one case, a handful of newspapers. Nine of the incidents were labeled as shoplifting and also largely included the theft of beer or other alcohol and cigarettes.

In a shoplifting case that occurred Dec. 10, 2021, Chow kicked and pushed a woman suspected of stealing one alcoholic beverage from the store before calling police. When police reviewed video footage that showed Chow kicking and pushing the woman, Chow agreed not to pursue shoplifting charges, and the woman agreed not to pursue charges for third-degree assault and battery, according to the incident report.

In a separate Dec. 2021 incident, a catalytic converter was reportedly taken from Chow’s truck while it was parked at the Shell station overnight.

In Feb. 2022, a man was seen on camera breaking the store’s glass door overnight and stealing a trash bag full of cigarettes.

The 15 incidents in which there was a theft reported at the store between the beginning of 2020 and the end of May 2023 average out to roughly one theft every 83 days.

Broken down further, seven of the theft incidents occurred in 2020 — averaging one event every 52 days. Six of the theft incidents occurred in 2021 — averaging one event every 60 days.

In 2022, one larceny was reported at the store in addition to the February breaking and entering that resulted in the theft of a large number of cigarettes.

No thefts were reported in 2023 prior to Carmack-Belton’s shooting. Twice so far in 2023, the store owners had called police to remove patrons from the store who were previously suspected of shoplifting, but no shoplifting was reported at those times.

The store also called police 16 times since the beginning of 2020 to ask police to remove somebody from the premises, either because the person was panhandling or appeared homeless, or because the person was erratic, according to the incident reports.

Five simple assaults were recorded at 7441 Parklane Road during the three-and-a-half-year period. One incident was between Chow and a customer who in March 2021 refused to wear a mask inside the store and then pushed Chow when Chow followed him outside to photograph his license plate.

Another incident occurred in August 2022 when somebody outside of the store threatened an employee with a knife. That employee declined to talk to law enforcement, saying instead that he would “let the streets handle it,” according to the incident report.

The other three simple assaults reported at the location were between people either nearby the store or in the parking lot, but the reports did not include details about Chow or his employees.

One incident report detailed how a person walking toward the Shell station was robbed at gunpoint in Feb. 2020, but the incident report did not provide further details about the victim.

On two occasions, patrons of the Shell store called police saying they had been threatened with a gun by an acquaintance while at the gas station. Those incidents did not involve Chow or other store employees.

Escalating calls

After two years without any reported property damage to the store, problems began to escalate at the Shell station in 2022.

On three occasions in 2022, the Shell station was vandalized or property was destroyed. The first incident occurred Feb. 12, 2022, when an older man was caught on camera breaking the store’s glass door with a boulder and then filling a trash bag with cigarettes and cigarillos, according to a Richland County Sheriff’s Department incident report.

Two months later, a customer became irate when she was told she did not have enough money to cover her purchase. She allegedly began threatening store employees then went outside and kicked a glass door until it shattered, which sheriff’s deputies confirmed with security footage, according to another incident report.

In late June 2022, a stray bullet broke one of the store’s windows when shots were fired outside the store in the early morning.

The most extreme event to occur at the store in 2022 came on Nov. 22, when a person assaulted Chow, his wife and his son.

The person entered the store and allegedly attempted to steal a Swisher Sweets Cigar. He was then asked by store employees not to take things out of totes inside the store, which triggered an argument, according to an incident report.

Chow and his family told sheriff’s deputies the man came behind the counter and assaulted all three of them before Chow pointed his gun at the man and told him to leave. Chow had an open wound on his head that was “bleeding heavily,” the incident report notes.

Just over six months later, Chow was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing Carmack-Belton over a wrongful shoplifting accusation, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department has said.

Prior to 2020, there had been at least two altercations in which Chow fired his gun at people he suspected of shoplifting, according to information previously shared by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

In 2015, Chow fired six shots into the side of a vehicle after attempting to stop someone from stealing, according to information shared by the sheriff’s department. The person had threatened to shoot Chow. No one was injured in that shooting.

In 2018, Chow fired two shots at a person the sheriff’s department called a shoplifter and struck the person in the leg. That person was treated at a hospital for the gunshot wound and later pleaded guilty to “charges stemming from this incident,” according to the department, which did not indicate if the shoplifter had a weapon.

“Mr. Chow’s conduct in the above incidents did not meet the requirements under South Carolina law to support criminal charges,” the department said.

The fatal shooting

Chow has owned the store at 7441 Parklane Road since at least 2012, when his LLC Grene Investments SP purchased the property from Sam’s Mart, according to county property records.

He was arrested May 29 and charged with murder in Carmack-Belton’s death. He is now being represented by local criminal defense attorney Jack Swerling. Swerling is also defending Greg Leon, who is currently on trial for allegedly shooting and killing his wife’s lover on Valentine’s Day in 2016.

Carmack-Belton was shot after he entered Chow’s convenience store around 8 p.m. May 28 and was wrongly accused by the owners of shoplifting, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said at the time.

“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, armed with a pistol, and his son chased after the teen, Lott said.

They ran toward the nearby Springtree Apartments off Springtree Drive. Lott said that, during the chase, Carmack-Belton fell down and got back up.

At that point, Chow shot the teen in the back, Lott said.

Following the shooting the Shell station was vandalized. Windows were broken, the name Cyrus was spray-painted on the walls of the building and items were stolen from the store.

Carmack-Belton was laid to rest during a funeral June 3 at Second Nazareth Baptist Church.

Chow has been held at the Alvin S. Glenn detention center since May 29. His bond hearing had been scheduled for this Friday, but will be rescheduled while his attorney is representing another client in a trial.