Cyrus Carmack Belton / Rick Chow / Columbia, SC

A protestor holds a sign outside a gas station formerly owned by Rick Chow on Parklane Rd. in Columbia, SC May 28, 2023. Chow shot and killed Cyrus Carmack-Belton after he wrongfully suspected the 14 year-old for stealing a bottle of water. (Photo by Sean Rayford)

Gas station owner charged with murder (May 29, 2023)

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.

Protestors seek justice for Cyrus Carmack-Belton (June 3, 2026)

He was charged with murder, which is what he should have been convicted of. I’m pissed off as much as anybody else. I made the arrest. It is our case. I’m not happy about it one bit,” said Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, when he rolled up on foot after protestors blocked the four lane road near Columbia Mall.”

Black Panthers Visit Columbia, SC after Chow Verdict (June 7, 2026)

As a protest and rally was beginning across town at the South Carolina Statehouse, armed men and one woman, who identified themselves as the Black Panther Party, gathered on the sidewalk along Parklane Rd. near the gas station where Cyrus Carmack-Belton was shot and killed by Rick Chow in 2023.