Gas station owner charged with murder
Photos and words by Sean Rayford
People pour out water in memory of Cyrus Carmack-Belton Monday afternoon at the Shell gas station on the corner of Parklane Rd. and Springtree Dr. The Richland County Sheriff’s Department says the business owner wrongly suspected the 14 year-old stealing four bottles of water, chased him down the street and shot him in the back.
Desiree Artemus worked at the Shell gas station on the corner of Parklane Rd. and Springtree Dr. more than a dozen years ago. She was twenty. The business was sold to a man from Greenville and within two weeks, Artemus saw the new owner, Rick Chow, chase a suspected thief into the nearby Greenbriar neighborhood.
“When I first got here we were told never to engage if someone stole, give them what they wanted because your life wasn't worth that. The manager at the time gave [Chow] the same information, but he did not listen,” says Artemus.
Artemus says Chow created a “war zone” with his behavior at the Shell Station. She quit a couple months after the first incident and eventually stopped shopping at his store.
Linda Suber talks about seeing neighbors performing CPR on Cyrus Carmack-Belton.
On Monday afternoon Chow was charged with murder, chasing 14 year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton, out of the store and a few hundred feet around the corner on Springtree Drive. Chow’s son was also part of the chase.
Linda Suber was driving back from shopping just after the shooting. “I looked over to my left, and I saw this baby laying right there on the ground and the neighbors were trying to give him CPR.”
Suber said she is banned from the Shell convenience store over a matter involving five cents. "How could you take a child's life like that?” She says, “It aint safe nowhere. It aint safe in your house. You can't go to the store. You can't do nothing without someone trying to kill you. It's just sad.”
Inside the store, doors locked, photos of six suspected thieves are taped near the register. The dates of the incidents range from 2018 to 2022 and the items stolen are: Mr. Goodbar, a bottle of Stella Artois, a 16 oz. can of Mango Rita, and a pack of Sour Patch Kids. The sixth suspect took multiple items. Outside the front door, empty water bottles lie in protest, tossed by demonstrators who honored Cyrus Carmack-Belton, by pouring out water following a moment of silence.
At noon when I arrived, Mr. Chow was locking the doors to his store, and running a red light in his pickup to escape his own business. About two dozen protesters had gathered at the station. Blocking gas pumps with their cars, sitting in lawn chairs and telling potential customers what had happened the previous night.
As he peeled off onto Parklane Rd. One witness said someone threw rocks at Chow. Another said he brandished his gun when she pulled up next to him at the traffic light.
Following a press conference with Sheriff Leon Lott, the Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford arrived at the scene to address the crowd. “This death will be ruled as a homicide,” she said, “The Sheriff’s department has charged him with murder. I saw him walk in myself just before we came over here. He is in the Sheriff's custody right now.”
Poeple listen to Coroner Naida Rutherford.
According to Sheriff Leon Lott, the incident began when Chow suspected Cyrus Carmack-Belton of stealing four water bottles. But Lott says Cyrus Carmack-Belton put the bottles back in the cooler. An argument ensued, the fourteen year-old fled and Chow and his son chased him down Springtree Dr. where Carmack-Belton tripped and fell, got back up and was then shot by Rick Chow.
“He had one shot to the back, which is why the death is being ruled as a homicide. We were able to recover the projectile. So he can’t say that he didn't shoot him because we can match that projectile with the gun that was used for the shooting.”
Sherriff Lott says a second gun was found in the vicinity of the victim, believed to be in the possession of Carmack-Belton at the time. Lott told The State newspaper that Carmack-Belton did not point a gun at Chow.
Copyright 2023 Sean Rayford. All rights reserved
About the author: Sean Rayford is a South Carolina Photojournalist and commercial photographer living in Columbia since 1997. Rayford works regularly with the New York Times, The Washington Post. The AP,. Getty Images and many others.