A South Carolina convenience store owner who fatally shot a 14-year-old child in the back after falsely accusing him of stealing was involved in at least two prior altercations where he confronted people he suspected of shoplifting and then opened fire, authorities said.
As the owner, Rick Chow, sits in jail awaiting a bond hearing in the death of Cyrus Carmack-Belton, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday revealed it has gotten numerous calls about trouble at the Xpress Mart Shell gas station. In one incident in 2015, Chow fired six times at a car after after he tried to stop someone he suspected of shoplifting, according to the department. Three years later, he shot a man in the leg, department spokesperson Veronica Hill said.
Chow’s conduct in both cases “did not meet the requirements under South Carolina law to support criminal charges,” she said, adding authorities made that determination because he wasn’t the instigator in either incident.
Owner opens fire over accusations of stolen beer and peanuts
An incident report states that in May 2015, Chow allegedly tried to stop a woman from stealing two cases of beer and a package of boiled peanuts.
Chow confronted the woman in the parking lot. The woman, who is not identified in the report, told Chow that she purchased the items and Chow said she had not.
The woman and Chow “began to struggle over the items and the female subject began to yell for help” from a man seated inside her vehicle, the report states. The woman allegedly threatened to shoot Chow, Hill said.
Chow grabbed the beer and the woman’s purse, which contained the peanuts, according to the report. The scuffle left Chow with two scratches and a broken pair of glasses, the report says.
As the man and woman attempted to drive away, Chow pulled out a handgun and fired about six shots at the vehicle, according to the report. No one was injured, Hill said.
Deputies responded but could not find the man and woman, the report says.
A stolen can of Easy-Off, then chaos
Three years later, Chow said he watched a man take a can of Easy-Off from a shelf, conceal it under his clothes and then leave the store without paying, an incident report states. Chow followed the man, Alexis Aguilera, 23, out of the store and demanded the item back, it says. Aguilera told him to call the police.
Chow said he was “unsure of what happened next” but was struck in the face and the can of Easy-Off fell to the ground, according to the report. Chow then pulled out his firearm and fired two shots at Aguilera as he fled, the report states.
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Aguilera returned to the scene as a deputy arrived, according to the report. He was taken to the hospital and treated for a gunshot wound before being taken into custody in connection with the incident.
Aguilera pled guilty to a shoplifting charge, court records show, and was sentenced to 30 days or a $300 fine. Publicly listed numbers were not available for Aguilera. Chow’s attorney declined to discuss the earlier incidents.
There were hundreds of calls to the store in the years before teen was fatally shot
The shootings were just two examples of prior incidents at the store. Over the past five years, the sheriff’s department has received hundreds of calls to the store ranging from assaults, larceny, shoplifting, motor vehicle theft, vandalism, robbery and burglary, according to Hill.
In Sunday’s incident, Chow, 58, fatally shot Carmack-Belton after accusing the teen of stealing bottles of water. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said the teen “did not shoplift anything.”
“We have no evidence that he stole anything whatsoever,” he said at a news briefing.
Carmack-Belton entered the convenience store around 8 p.m. Sunday. Lott said the teen took four bottles of water from a cooler and then put them back. Hill, the department spokesperson, said Wednesday that there is video showing the teen either setting down the water bottles or putting them back.
At some point, the teen got into an argument with Chow and Chow’s son. Lott didn’t detail what led to the dispute but said that Carmack-Belton eventually left the store and took off running.
Chow, armed with a pistol, and his son chased Carmack-Belton toward a nearby apartment complex, Lott said, adding that the teen fell at one point but got back up.
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Chow’s son said Carmack-Belton had a gun, which is when the owner shot the teen in the back as he was running away, according to Lott. Authorities later recovered a gun next to his body, but the sheriff said there was no evidence the teen ever pointed the weapon at Chow or his son.
Carmack-Belton was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An investigation determined the shooting was “not a bias motivated incident,” according to a report from the sheriff’s department. Hill said authorities reached that conclusion because investigators have no evidence that suggests racial bias was a factor. Carmack-Belton was Black. Chow is Asian.
The shooting has angered some people in the community.
“It’s senseless,” Lott said. “It doesn’t make sense. You have a family that’s grieving. We have a community that’s grieving over a 14-year-old who was shot.”
He said that even if Carmack-Belton took something from the store, it didn’t warrant a shooting.
“Regardless, even if he had shoplifted four bottles of water, which is what he initially took out the cooler and then he put them back, even if he had done that, that’s not — that’s not something you shoot anybody over, much less a 14-year-old,” Lott said.
Democratic State Rep. Todd Rutherford, the attorney for the teen’s family, said in an Instagram post that what happened “wasn’t an accident. It’s something that the Black community has experienced for generations: being racially profiled, then shot down in the street like a dog.”
“Words can’t describe the pain I feel having known this family for decades,” he said.
Rutherford could not be reached for comment.
Some people on social media have called for a boycott of the store and on Monday, a crowd gathered outside to protest. The report states that several people broke into the store and took items off the shelves.
Chow is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on a murder charge. His son has not been charged. The sheriff’s department said they have consulted with the Fifth Circuit Solicitor to request their opinion on whether the son should be charged. The solicitor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
