Photo: Carmack-Belton Family
The Carmack-Belton family said it plainly: "We do not accept it."
A South Carolina jury on Monday (June 1) acquitted Chikei Rick Chow, a 61-year-old store owner, of murder in the 2023 fatal shooting of Cyrus Carmack-Belton, a Black 14-year-old who was shot in the back while running away from Chow's Columbia convenience store.
The unanimous not guilty verdict came after more than eight hours of deliberation, nearly a week after the trial began.
The family's response was gutting. "Yesterday a jury watched our 14-year-old boy run away from two grown men on video," they said in a statement first released to ABC News. "They knew one of them shot him in the back and they still said no one is to blame. We are heartbroken. We do not accept it. Cyrus stole nothing. He was a child, and he was running for his life. Our son mattered."
Prosecutors said Chow and his son chased Carmack-Belton after accusing him of stealing four bottles of water — an allegation surveillance video did not support. Carmack-Belton was shot once in the back.
The defense argued Chow fired to protect his son after allegedly seeing Carmack-Belton point a gun at him. A 9mm pistol was found near Carmack-Belton's body.
Carmack-Belton's mother, Nicole Carmack, spoke exclusively to WIS after the verdict. "I am devastated. I cannot believe that the jury came back with a not guilty," she said.
His father, Troy Belton, added: "To me, this is like another setback for young Black males, Black and brown males everywhere. It's just like you just can't get justice nowhere."
By Tuesday (June 2), protesters had gathered outside the former gas station on Parklane Road where Carmack-Belton was killed, chanting and holding signs that read "Justice for Cyrus."
The family drew a line from their son's death to a longer, painful history.
"Black families have stood right here too many times — burying our children and then being told the law sees nothing," they said. "We will not stop. We're taking this fight to civil court, and we will not rest until our son's life is given the dignity this verdict denied him."
Family attorney Todd Rutherford said the civil lawsuit against Chow, which had been on hold during the criminal trial, will now move forward.
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