A jury clears the 18-year-old of homicide and all other charges following a politically divisive trial.
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A US teenager who shot dead two men during racial justice protests has been cleared of homicide and all other counts after claiming self-defence.
Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, killed the men and wounded a third on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, on 25 August 2020.
During the high profile and politically divisive trial, his defence said he had feared for his life. Prosecutors argued he was looking for trouble that night.
National Guard troops have been sent to the city amid fears of unrest.
Mr Rittenhouse faced five charges, including intentional homicide, which carries a mandatory life sentence.
His fate was decided by a 12-person jury composed of seven women and five men. They reached their verdict after more than three days of deliberations.
Mr Rittenhouse sobbed and was held by his lawyers as the verdict was announced.
Two nights before he turned up in Kenosha, riots erupted on its streets after police shot Jacob Blake, a black man.
Mr Rittenhouse had travelled to the city from his home in Illinois and, armed with a semi-automatic rifle, he said he sought to help protect property from unrest.
Then aged 17, he shot dead Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded 27-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz.
Mr Rittenhouse’s lawyers argued that he was “trying to help this community” and “reacted to people attacking him”.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, questioned why Mr Rittenhouse broke curfew in a city he did not live in and “pretended to guard” people and property he was not familiar with.
“You cannot claim self-defence against a danger that you create,” they said.
Jurors were shown video, sometimes frame by frame, leading up to and after each shooting.