A South Carolina jury heard opening statements Wednesday in the trial of a store owner charged with murder in the 2023 fatal shooting of a Black 14-year-old, with the prosecutor calling it unprovoked and “heinous” while a defense lawyer insisted it was an act of defense.
Chikei Rick Chow, 61, who is Asian, shot Cyrus Carmack-Belton in the back during a foot chase in Columbia on May 28, 2023, believing — prosecutors say wrongly — that he had stolen four bottles of water from the store. The killing sent waves of anguish and grief through the African American community in Richland County, where nearly half the population is Black.
