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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina man tried for fatally shooting a Fort Bragg soldier at a nightclub in 2011 has been found not guilty.

The Fayetteville Observer reported that a jury of Friday acquitted Kenneth Ronald Clark of shooting U.S. Army Specialist Breon Joseph Smith as the soldier worked security at Congo’s Latin Club in Fayetteville. Smith had joined the Army in 2001.

The 36-year-old Clark was charged with first-degree and second-degree murder after prosecutors said he shot Smith after the soldier asked Clark and his friends to leave the club as it was set to close early on the morning of March 24, 2011.

The not guilty verdict came after a two-week trial during which the defense argued Clark was too far away from Smith to have been the shooter.

Credit: The Associated Press.