Gas station owner charged in killing teen falsely accused of theft

The owner of a gas station in Columbia, South Carolina faces murder charges after police say he chased a 14-year-old boy suspected of stealing water bottles and then shot and killed him.

WIS-TV reports authorities reviewed the surveillance video and discovered the boy initially took four water bottles out of the refrigerator but then put them back.

“It’s senseless, it doesn’t make sense,” Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said in a news conference about the arrest of Rick Chow,58. “You have a family that’s grieving, we have a community that’s grieving over a 14-year-old who was shot.”

ABC News reported that Chow’s son thought the boy had a gun. Authorities did find a gun near the boy’s body but say there’s no evidence who the gun belonged to.

According to CBS News, the boy has been identified as Cyrus Carmack-Belton. The son initially chased Carmack-Belton out of the store and his father eventually joined him. There is no indication the boy ever pointed a gun at Chow or his son.

“Rick Chow shot this young man in the back and he killed him and he is going to be appropriately charged with murder,” Lott said during a news conference.

He died of a gunshot wound to the right lower back.

Protestors gathered outside Chow’s gas station but the peaceful protest was hijacked by looters. Authorities say justice has already been served by the arrest of Chow and say looters will be prosecuted.

According to NBC, there’s evidence Chow and the boy got into an argument in the store and then took off running. Police say there’s no evidence the shooting was racially motivated.