COLUMBIA, S.C. — On Monday the community hosted a vigil to honor the life of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton and ask for justice in his death.
Carmack-Belton was killed Sunday night after being chased out of the Shell gas station on Parklane Road and gunned down. Richland County deputies say the owner of the store believed he had stolen water bottles. However, the sheriff said that was not true.
Store owner Rick Chow turned himself into the Richland County Sheriff's Department Monday afternoon and is now charged with murder.
People at the vigil say there is still justice to come.
"Justice will be served, starting at the bond hearing tomorrow where we request his bond be denied," said a woman attending the vigil.
Balloons, candles, signs, and water bottles were placed in Carmack-Belton's honor all the way from the gas station to the place where he was killed.
During the vigil, the teen's name and age were also spray painted on the gas station.
People who gathered outside the gas station are demanding that the store be closed down for good.
Protests at the store lasted all day, and according to organizers, they will continue. They hope to inform the community about Carmack-Belton's tragic death, and events that have previously occurred at the store and encourage people to shop elsewhere.
"That king may not have mattered to them but he... mattered to us, because that could have been your child," said one activist at the vigil.
Rick Chow, the gas station owner, is scheduled to appear at a first hearing Tuesday at 2 p.m.