06/01/2026
In trial last week, a prosecutor and pathologist demonstrated exactly where a gas station owner shot a 14-year-old boy in the back after chasing him out of his store in Columbia, South Carolina three years ago.
Amy Durso works at the Medical University of South Carolina and autopsied Cyrus Carmack-Belton after Rick Chow shot and killed him on May 28, 2023. Chow and his wife and son had accused the boy of stealing bottled water, which he hadn’t done.
Dale Scott, a senior assistant solicitor in South Carolina’s 5th Judicial Circuit, was questioning Durso about Cyrus’ bullet wound when he asked her to step down from the witness stand and show jurors where on his back the wound would have been.
“Use me as a model. Where would that entrance wound be?” Scott asked.
“So, if we go mid back, just underneath that, just right at midline, I would say approximately in this location here, I would say right around here,” Durso said.
Scott removed his jacket and got a pen.
“You want me to draw on you?” Durso said. “I’ve never drawn on an attorney before.”
Durso marked on Scott’s whie dress shirt where Scott’s bullet entered Cyrus’ back.
“And the trajectory was upward, you say?” Scott asked.
“Yes,” Durso answered.
Scott asked Durso to demonstrate with a rod “how that would look going into Mr. Carmack-Belton’s body.”
“Like this, if he was standing straight up,” Durso said, motioning with the rod.
“The problem is like my diagram, everyone’s standing in anatomical position, no one is ever really standing in anatomical position when they get shot,” she said.
“Would you expect to see that trajectory if you’re in the shooter’s stance and you’re behind me and I’m upright?” Scott asked.
“So a lot of times we get people, if someone is behind you with a gun, in general someone’s not going to stand there. A lot of times we have upward trajectories from people bending over,” Durso answered..
“Okay. The victim bending over, you mean?” Scott asked.
“Yes,” Durso answered.
