A fatality occurred this week in South Carolina. A store owner thought a 14-year-old was robbing him (and he wasn’t), so he shot him. Now, the merchant has been charged with murder by state authorities, according to information from the Associated Press news agency.
The store owner was identified as 58-year-old Rick Chow, who, if convicted, could face 30 years to a lifetime in prison.
The victim was identified as 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton.
The Associated Press reported that Chow thought Carmack-Belton had stolen four bottles of water. However, investigators reviewed the store’s security camera and were able to see that the young man put the bottles back in the refrigerator.
Subsequently, Carmack-Belton and Chow began to argue, and when the young man started to run after leaving the store, he was fatally shot by Chow.
Both Chow and his son, who was also involved in the incident, maintain that Carmack-Belton was armed. However, Sheriff Leon Lott indicated that there is no evidence that he pointed a gun at Chow, according to the Associated Press.
“You don’t shoot someone in the back who doesn’t pose a threat to you,” the sheriff said, noting that witnesses, as well as audiovisual footage from surveillance cameras, showed there was no evidence that Chow feared for his life.
Chow is currently awaiting a bail hearing. He is currently being held in the Richland County Jail.
The case has had a great resonance within public opinion, and has even been commented on by US congressmen.
Jim Clyburn, an African-American Democratic representative, said Carmack-Belton’s family should be celebrating the young man’s eighth grade completion instead of holding a funeral for him.
“The criminalization of black men and boys, as well as the historical trend to ‘paint’ them as offenders, has returned time and time again to these deadly and painful circumstances,” Congressman Clyburn said in a statement reported by the Associated Press in connection to the death of Carmack-Belton, who was African-American.
At the place of the death of the young man, citizens and activists have left bottles of water, flowers and a sign that says “Justice for King Cyrus” (Justice for King Cyrus, in English).
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