DOVER, Del. (AP) - A former custodian charged in the fatal shooting of man outside a Delaware elementary school has been acquitted of murder.
Jurors deliberated for about seven hours Thursday before acquitting 54-year-old Rodney West of first-degree murder. They also declined to convict him on lesser charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.
West was charged with killing 39-year-old Derrick Combs in August 2018 on the property of Towne Point Elementary School in Dover.
No students were at the school at the time.
Officials have said the shooting involved a domestic dispute stemming from text messages exchanged between West and Combs' wife, who also worked at the school.
West rejected a manslaughter plea deal and testified that he shot Combs in self-defense.
