Former Milwaukee police officer found not guilty in fatal shooting

June 21 (Reuters) - A former Milwaukee police officer, whose fatal shooting of a black man last year sparked two nights of rioting, was found not guilty in the killing on Wednesday.

Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who is also black, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the death of 23-year-old Sylville Smith following an Aug. 13, 2016 foot chase.

People were heard crying and yelling in the courtroom after Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Conen read the jury's verdict on Wednesday afternoon, according to a video stream of the hearing.

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Police said Smith was armed and ignored commands to drop his gun. After Smith was shot, the resulting violence during protests left businesses burned, police cars damaged and officers injured.

Heaggan-Brown was fired from the police force in October over unrelated sexual assault charges. He was charged with assaulting a man a day after he fatally shot Smith.

The former cop was also charged with having sex with prostitutes and sexually assaulting another person between December 2015 and July 2016, court records said.

(Reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; Editing by Bernadette Baum)