South Carolina gas station owner charged with murder after teen killed

Rick Chow appears in court over death of Cyrus Carmack-Belton, 14, who police say was running away from convenience mart

A gas station owner from South Carolina accused of chasing a 14-year-old boy from his store and fatally shooting him in the back made his first court appearance on Tuesday, on a murder charge.

Rick Chow said he thought the boy had shoplifted four bottles of water on Sunday night from his Xpress Mart Shell station in Columbia, authorities said. But Cyrus Carmack-Belton put the bottles back in the cooler and was off the property and running away when he was killed, the Richland county sheriff, Leon Lott, said.