Shop owner charged with murder of 14-year-old who was wrongly accused of robbery

A convenience store owner in South Carolina has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old black boy whom he falsely accused of shoplifting, being chased and shot in the back on Sunday night, authorities said.

The store owner, Rick Chow, 58, who was charged Monday, believed the boy, Cyrus Carmack-Belton, stole four water bottles from his Xpress Mart Shell Station in Columbia, the Richland County Sheriff’s Office said.

But Sheriff Leon Lott said at a news conference Monday that Cyrus had not shoplifted and described the shooting as unjustified.

Still, at about 8 p.m., Mr. Chow and his son, whose name has not been released by the sheriff’s office, chased Cyrus to a nearby apartment complex, where the teen fell and got up, Sheriff Lott said.

Mr. Chow’s son saw that Cyrus had a gun, Sheriff Lott said, and the store owner shot Cyrus in the back, killing him, the sheriff said. There is no evidence that Cyrus pointed a gun at the store owner or his son, authorities said.

Sheriff Lott described the shooting as “disturbing” and said that even if Cyrus stole the water bottles, “that’s not something you shoot someone, let alone a 14-year-old.”

Mr Chow’s lawyer did not immediately respond to calls for comment on Tuesday night.

The shooting has sparked outrage in Columbia, where dozens of protesters gathered at Mr. Chow’s store on Monday. Later that night, the store was vandalized and looted, the sheriff said, urging protesters to be peaceful. Photos from the store showed graffiti on the building and yellow crime scene tape surrounding it. Among the spray-painted messages were “RIP King Cyrus” and his age, 14.

Troy Belton, Cyrus’ father, said of his son in a short phone interview, “If you were around him, you would have loved him.”

In the Columbia case, Richland County coroner Naida Rutherford said at the press conference that there was no indication that Cyrus “argued with the store owner before running out of the store.”

Cyrus had no cuts or scrapes on his hands, she said. His only injuries were an abrasion from the fall and the gunshot wound to his right lower back, Ms Rutherford said.

Mr Chow, who legally owned the gun used in the shooting, had a history of real shoplifting incidents and confrontations, the sheriff said.

But, Sheriff Lott added, “you’re not doing what happened” on Sunday night, referring to the shooting.

State Representative Todd Rutherford, a Democrat who also represents Cyrus’ family, said over the phone that Cyrus, who was known for always smiling, “did nothing wrong” and “was chased like an animal.”

He said he wasn’t sure why Cyrus had a gun.

“It’s possible he felt he needed it to protect himself,” Mr. Rutherford said. “But despite the confrontation, he didn’t use it.”

On Facebook, Mr Rutherford wrote that what happened to Cyrus was not an accident, but “something the black community has experienced for generations: being racially profiled and then gunned down like a dog in the street.”

@Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.