"I was wrong," Rick Chow's son testifies during his father's murder trial

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:01]He ran after him.

[00:00:03]You were that certain he had stolen or you not?

[00:00:07]>> Uh I believed it and when he ran, that's when I I really believed that he had stolen something.

[00:00:14]>> And you were dead wrong, weren't you?

[00:00:16]>> I did learn that afterwards.

[00:00:18]>> You were dead wrong, weren't you?

[00:00:21]>> I was wrong.

[00:00:26]>> Testimony in the Rick Chow murder trial is now over this Friday evening and things got pretty heated earlier today as the defense called its first major witness, Andy Chow, who you just heard from, the son of Rick Chow.

[00:00:37]>> Yeah, he testified about the moments leading up to the shooting of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack Belton and late today, the defense rested their case without calling Rick Chow to the stand.

[00:00:47]>> News 19's Kiki Gaither was live outside of the Richland County Courthouse right there and Kiki, you're now sharing what you saw inside the courtroom throughout this Friday.

[00:00:59]>> Erica J.R. Early this morning, the state rested its case and almost immediately the defense called to the stand their first and most important witness, Andy Chow. Now, he spent the most of the morning explaining to the jury his version of events of what happened the night Cyrus Carmack Belton was shot. Now, Andy Chow says that he believed um and testified to that. He believed a stolen bottle um Cyrus had stolen a bottle of water. He and his father followed him out of the store and said the victim pointed a gun at him at the end of a foot chase. But prosecutors spent hours focusing on a different question. Why chase Cyrus at all? They walked Andy through the store's surveillance system, facial recognition software and the ability to call police instead of following him down Spring Tree Drive.

[00:01:48]>> Okay.

[00:01:49]And how long does it take to call 911?

[00:01:51]How many How many seconds does it take, you think, for you to hit three buttons on your cell phone.

[00:01:56]>> Um a second.

[00:02:01]>> 1 second?

[00:02:02]>> Yes.

[00:02:03]>> Is there anything that stopped you on that day from using 1 second of your time to dial 911?

[00:02:11]>> Uh nothing stopped me.

[00:02:14]>> No.

[00:02:18]>> The defense, however, maintains Andy and his father were confronted by an armed Cyrus and called two more witnesses to support their version of events, including a former Richland County deputy who responded to the scene and had body cam of Rick and Andy Chow's on-scene statements, as well as an EMT student who testified she saw Rick Chow performing life-saving efforts on Cyrus before first responders arrived. Now, the judge excused the jury for the weekend and is expected to hear closing arguments on Monday morning when we return. I'll be bringing you all the updates live. Kiki Gashu, News 19 WLTX.

[00:02:57]>> All right, Kiki. Thank you so much for that report.

[00:02:59]>> Again, the jury has been sent home for the weekend. They are going to come back Monday morning at 9:30 for closing arguments.

[00:03:06]>> Coming up at 6:30 on WLTX Plus, we will hearing more from attorneys on what to expect in the days ahead.

[00:03:12]>> And for continuing coverage of this murder trial, you can count on News 19.

[00:03:16]We're going to bring you closing arguments Monday morning and expert analysis as the jury gets the case.

[00:03:21]>> Just scan the QR code right here on your screen to download the News 19 app. It is free and you can follow the trial wherever you are.