Store owner shoots 14 year old “shoplifter” in back

Convenience store owner who allegedly killed teen had previously shot at two shoplifters, officials say
BY ALIZA CHASAN

UPDATED ON: MAY 31, 2023 / 8:17 PM / CBS NEWS

Years before he allegedly killed a 14-year-old boy wrongly suspected of shoplifting, a South Carolina gas station convenience store owner shot a shoplifter and opened fire on the vehicle of another shoplifter in separate encounters, officials said Wednesday.

Rick Chow, now 58, was never charged in those cases because his "conduct in the above incidents did not meet the requirements under South Carolina law to support criminal charges," the Richland County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday. Chow is now facing a murder charge for allegedly chasing after and then fatally shooting Cyrus Carmack-Belton on Sunday.

Officers have responded to hundreds of calls for help at Chow's Xpress Mart Shell station in Columbia over the last five years, officials said. They've responded to assaults, larceny, shoplifting, motor vehicle theft, vandalism, robbery and burglary.

On May 4, 2015, Chow confronted a woman who'd grabbed two cases of Bud Light and a package of boiled peanuts and then left without paying. According to a redacted incident report, the two struggled outside the store, and the woman threatened to shoot the store owner. Chow then took hold of the beer and the woman's purse, which contained the peanuts. The woman got into her vehicle to leave. Chow pulled out a .45 caliber Glock and fired approximately six times at the passenger-side window. No one was injured in the incident, the report said.

Chow also shot a shoplifter on Oct. 12, 2018, officials said. The shoplifter had taken a $6.49 can of oven cleaner and hidden it in his clothes, according to the incident report. The shoplifter assaulted Chow after the gas station owner confronted him. Chow then fired at the man twice, striking him in the leg. The shoplifter later pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the incident.

Chow's name is redacted on the incident reports reviewed by CBS News, but the reports identify the shooter in both incidents as the store's owner. The Richland County Sheriff's Department confirmed both shootings involved Chow. Officials said the earlier incidents were cases of self-defense.

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^Damn... vicious cycle.

I can see what got him to that point even if I can't condone shooting anyone in the back, let alone a kid.

 

Yeah, ok, this guy is not a good guy. Adios mofo.

 

We all saw menace 2 society

 

I don't really see what got him to that point TBH, but I do know some small business owners whose lives are wrapped up in their businesses.

 

if my convenience store was being targeted by shoplifters I would lock the doors and not allow access to the store like some stores in bad parts of town have done in the past. Customers would have to walk up and to the window and tell you what they want and you grab it for them. It does take out some of the convenience but also would cut out the shoplifting.

it would take more than the loss of material possessions for me to take someone else's life.

 

Shut It Down, no customers, storm shutters dropped (always a back way out, but I'd hole up there), if somebody tries to break in that's their fault and you're protecting the people with you

 

Sounds like Chow should have already been locked up.

 

Or should have had some training before he owned that gun in the first place?

More Well Regulation.

 

dude is unhinged

the 1st time he shot at a shoplifter is wild…the person is driving away, and u shoot at their car 6 times? Over some beer? Unless there’s more to the story, how tf were there no charges?

 

This is completely off-topic, but if you get a chance catch up with "eminence in shadow" - it's 20 episodes season one that came out in the fall of 2022. They are having a second season coming out this October ...probably the best Isekai anime I've ever seen. So well done

 

I struggle to see how there was lack of evidence in that case…that should’ve been an attempted murder charge right there

unfortunately, shoplifting is gonna happen…it is what it is…he could’ve locked up the more commonly stolen items so a customer can’t get to them without him retrieving it for them, or hell, hire security

killing someone or catching a murder charge because someone stole some beer or someone stole a piece of candy is insane and just not worth it

people will kill over anything these days

 

Yes this is why we need more guns. Had the victim had a gun, he could have shot the store owners first when they harassed him and he could stand his ground and mowed them down in self defense. Everyone would believe the black teen was acting in self defense and was not a criminal.

But overall laws should be changed. If you are frustrated with pass issues, that gives you the right to take it out on someone. Frustration is understandable, and we should give people who act on anger and frustration the leeway to be forgiven for killing a few unimportant people.

 

No one really wants to discuss it - but the relations between individually owned service stations in predominantly black communities and their customer base have been HORRIBLE for a long time and really are not getting any better. The owners often are scared of or hate their customer base and the customers are often resentful or feel over charged by the owners of the service stations.

In some cases these service stations are in the most dangerous parts of town, they are in areas where chain stations will not open.... they are in some cases the only store around, they are selling alcohol and other products - they are open late and as a result there is a lot of crime around and even in these stations.

I don't know what the solution is - but this has been going on for a long time. 70 years ago there was real friction between Jewish shop owners and the local communities - then it was Koreans and in some cases Chinese that owned the stations and there was often friction and now in a lot of the country it is Pakistani or Indians that own them and there are still issues.

Owning an operating a service station in a really bad part of time isn't easy and it isn't as profitable as people think - or the chains would move in. After awhile the divide between the community and the owners gets so large that anyone that walks in and is black is treated like ****, because the shop owner has either been robbed or ripped off by people in the community and it just spirals out of control.

 

I saw the birth of this sort of racism in a tourist shop/beer place in New Orleans on Bourbon Street several years ago.

This place was across the street from our hotel, so my buddy and I went in around 11am to grab some beers to start the day. The guy at the counter was a Pakistani immigrant and was super pale, sweating and a little shaky. My buddy asked him if he was ok, and he broke down in tears and told us how the night before these n******* took him in the back, stuck a gun in his mouth and said they were going to kill him. They ended up not killing him, obviously, but they robbed the place. I'm pretty sure he hadn't even gone home yet. At any rate, he starts ranting about how he thought black people were the same as anyone else, but now he sees that they're just n******* and 'everyone' was right about them. Then he says f*** this country, f*** n******, etc. We were pretty shook and kept our eyes open the rest of the trip (as much as possible being shitfaced).

It was heartbreaking, and aside from seeing two strippers suck some random guy off in the middle of Bourbon Street in broad daylight, was the thing that stood out most to me about that vacation to NO.

Sad ****.

 

Yeah. Similar to what I have heard as well. My friend is Indian, and his family has owned service stations..... my friend is pretty balanced about it, became an engineer to get out of the business.... said the owners are usually horribly racist because of bad experiences and that the customers are treated poorly and will lash out against the shop owners. He also said the profit margins are TERRIBLE in poor areas of town - or white men would own them all.

If you have ever really had your life threatened by someone, it is something that you will not forget. Also the world around us isn't black and white - it is grey, and people respond differently to different situations.