Kyle Rittenhouse Was Found Not Guilty Of Murder After Shooting Protesters In Wisconsin

Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two people last year during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been acquitted of all charges related to that night.

A jury found Rittenhouse, 18, to be not guilty on Friday after more than three days of deliberations over the case.

He immediately fell to the floor and started crying after the verdicts were delivered, video shows.

Rittenhouse was cleared of two counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide and two counts of recklessly endangering safety, the New York Times reports.

He was 17 when he travelled to Kenosha with a rifle last year when protests against police violence and racial injustice were set to take place that also saw moments of rioting, arson and looting.

Videos from that night show he was one of several armed militia members who said they were there to defend private property from the demonstrators.

Rittenhouse shot and killed two people and injured another person during that chaotic night, in moments captured on video by witnesses and played at the trial.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Rittenhouse said during the trial, according to The Associated Press. "I defended myself."

His defence team argued that he went to the protests with an assault-style rifle to protect private property, and that he shot multiple protesters because he feared for his life.

The prosecution argued that he was trying to take the law into his own hands and that he felt no remorse for killing the two protesters.

The trial judge, Bruce Schroeder, also became a topic of conversation after he insisted that the men shot by the teenager could not be called "victims."

The case has been politically charged since the day it appeared and the verdict ignited a new round of outrage and celebration on social media Friday.

Last year's protests broke out after police shot and paralyzed Jacob Blake, a Black man, during an incident in Kenosha.