Steph Deschamps / November 20, 2021
American teenager Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two people and wounded a third on the sidelines of anti-racism protests in August 2020 in Kenosha, was acquitted Friday after a closely watched trial in the United States.
Twelve jurors in a Wisconsin state court found him not guilty on five counts, including murder, on the fourth day of their deliberations.
The 18-year-old white man, who was facing life imprisonment, had pleaded self-defense. When the verdict was read, he sobbed before quickly leaving the courtroom.
The trial, revealing the fractures in American society over guns, the right to self-defense and the anti-racist Black Lives Matter movement, was widely reported in the country, which awaited the verdict with some trepidation.
As a precaution, Wisconsin's governor has asked 500 National Guard troops to stand by in Kenosha.
On August 23, 2020, this city in the Great Lakes region had gone up in flames after a police shooting of an African-American man.
At the age of 17, Kyle Rittenhouse equipped himself with a semi-automatic rifle and joined armed groups that came to protect businesses.
Under confusing circumstances, he had opened fire, killing two men and wounding a third. All his victims are white.