Jury deliberations in the Wisconsin murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse were into their third hour, working to form a consensus on the teenager's guilt or innocence.
He is accused of killing two men and wounding a third during protests last year.
The shootings took place in Kenosha during rallies - marred by arson, rioting and looting - that followed the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, who was left paralysed from the waist down.
The high-profile case pits the prosecution's argument that Mr Rittenhouse recklessly shot the men without justification against the teenager's assertion that he acted in self-defence.
The 12-member jury sent a note to ask the judge for extra copies of the first six pages of his 36-page jury instructions, indicating they were still in the early stages of their deliberations.
Mr Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, on 25 August 2020.
The jury, which numbered 18 through two weeks of testimony, was whittled down to 12 for deliberations.
Earlier today, Kenosha County Judge Bruce Schroeder told the jury to begin weighing the case.
"OK folks, you can retire to consider your verdicts," Mr Justice Schroeder said.
Mr Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty and took the stand last week to argue that he only fired his weapon after the men attacked him.
He said Mr Rosenbaum, the first person he shot that night, grabbed the barrel of his semi-automatic rifle.
Yesterday, prosecutors and defence counsel gave their closing arguments, offering widely different portrayals of the defendant.
Prosecutors described Mr Rittenhouse as a vigilante who provoked the series of violent encounters, first by raising his rifle in a threatening way, then by shooting Mr Rosenbaum which created an "active shooter" situation which others tried to stop.
The defence said Mr Rittenhouse, who carried a medical kit in addition to his gun, merely wanted to help the injured and protect a used-car dealership from the kind of property damage that Kenosha had seen over two nights prior to the shooting.
The shootings have emerged as the most closely watched case involving a civilian's right to self-defence since George Zimmerman was acquitted in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in 2013.
Like Mr Zimmerman, Mr Rittenhouse has become a polarising figure, viewed as heroic by some conservatives who favour expansive gun rights and as a symbol of a reckless American gun culture by many on the left.
