MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee jury acquitted a former police officer in the on-duty shooting of Sylville Smith in August that ignited riots on the city’s north side.

Jurors found that Dominique Heaggan-Brown was not guilty of first-degree reckless homicide when he shot 23-year-old Sylville Smith after a brief foot chase following a traffic stop August 13th. Smith had a gun when he ran, but the case hinged on whether he was a threat when Heaggan-Brown fired the shot that killed him.

Body-camera video showed Heaggan-Brown shooting Smith once in the arm as he appeared to be throwing the gun over a fence. The video showed the second shot — 1.69 seconds later — hit Smith in the chest as he lay on the ground.

Prosecutors argued Smith was defenseless at the time of the second shot because he had thrown the gun over the fence. Defense attorneys argued Heaggan-Brown had to act quickly to defend himself.

Smith’s family members reacted angrily to the verdict, swearing and storming from the courtroom. Outside, one man shouted obscenities at a sheriff’s deputy as he was held back by other family members.

Smith’s family filed a civil lawsuit against Heaggan-Brown and the city, family attorney David Owens announced after the verdict. He said it had become clear since the shooting that Heaggan-Brown never should have been on the force.

Heaggan-Brown’s attorney, Jonathan Smith, said the former officer was thankful for the acquittal and believed he was justified in using deadly force.

“There is not joy in a case like this. I think we must be mindful that a young man lost his life,” said Steven Kohn, another of Heaggan-Brown’s attorneys.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, who made the decision to charge Heaggan-Brown, said he did not agree with the verdict but would respect it.

Heaggan-Brown was fired from the police force in October after being charged with sexual assault in an unrelated case. The sexual assault case was not mentioned during the trial because it is being handled separately and knowledge of it could prejudice the jury.

In Milwaukee, Smith’s death brought to the surface long-simmering tensions between black residents and police, and demonstrators assembled near the site of the shooting in Sherman Park hours after it happened.

Two nights of riots followed, with protesters throwing rocks, bricks, and bottles at police officers. The protesters burned eight businesses and a police car and when it was over, 40 demonstrators had been arrested and a handful of officers hurt.