SAN FRANCISCO — The civil trial over the fatal police shooting of Alejandro "Alex" Nieto concluded Thursday, with a federal jury finding that officers did not use excessive force when they opened fire.

Nieto, who was carrying a tazer, was killed in a hail of gunfire in March 2014 in San Francisco's Bernal Hills Park. In a span of about a minute, four officers fired a total of 59 bullets at the 28-year-old, 14 of which hit him in the head, shoulders and back. The San Francisco district attorney's office declined to criminally indict the officers in February 2015, on grounds that the police had "acted reasonably" in self defense.

It took the jury roughly eight hours over the course of two days to return with a verdict. Once read, the Nieto family left the court in tears, while defense lawyers and officers embraced and exchanged "congratulations."

"I very much feel for the family," said Deputy City Attorney Margaret Baumgartner, who represented the officers, at a press conference after the trial. "However, I did not think that the officers violated the constitution when they used lethal force against Mr. Nieto on this particular day, and the jury agreed."

Adante Pointer, the attorney who represented Alex's parents, Elvira and Refugio Nieto, said that the jury's decision is a huge blow that will have devastating effects for San Francisco.

“The verdict was not what the Nietos deserve, and it’s not what the city deserves,” Pointer said outside the courthouse. “What you have here is a green light to fire 59 shots in a public park."

See also: Justice Department launches review of San Francisco Police over Mario Woods shooting

Two starkly different versions of events leading up to the shooting emerged at the civil trial, held at the San Francisco Federal Court building under Judge Nathanael Cousins.

City attorneys argued that the four officers — Richard Schiff, Jason Sawyer, Roger Morse, and Nathan Chew — were responding to a dispatch call about a man waving a gun around and feared for their lives when they opened fire. Nieto, who worked as a security guard at a nightclub, had been carrying a work-issued taser at the time of the shooting, but whether he brandished the taser and fired at officers remained a key point of contention throughout the 8-day trial.

Alex Nieto's mother, (middle left, in red blouse) and father (middle right, in white shirt) on the last day of trial. Image: Benjamin Bac Sierra/Rebecca Solnit

Baumgartner said the officers mistook the taser for a gun and shot only after Nieto pointed it at them. Sawyer, a department veteran and an experienced shooter, testified that a red light beam coming from the taser made him believe it was a gun with technology designed to increase firing accuracy.

“When he pointed a gun at [the officers], and aimed at them with a red laser sight, all they knew was this was a man with a gun who aimed at them,” Baumgartner said during opening statements.

One of many San Francisco street paintings paying tribute to Alex Nieto. Image: Asskar Zallinas/Justice4AlexNieto.Org

Pointer painted a different picture, one that hinged on the 8-person jury believing that the officers were overzealous in their pursuit of Nieto. In his opening statements, he stressed that Schiff, who was still in field training at the time of the shooting, was a "rookie" who was already primed for a shootout after receiving the call from dispatch.

“As soon as I could I tried to fire,” Schiff told the jury. He had been in field training with the San Francisco Police Department for a little over two months, and during the shooting emptied his clip, reloaded and kept firing, which Pointer used as an example of excessive force. All four of the officers continued shooting once Nieto was on the ground, although Sawyer testified that Nieto still was brandishing his taser after he had fallen.

The placement of Nieto's hands and a timestamp on the taser became a focal point of the trial.

Pointer argued that Nieto did not aim the taser at officers because the 28-year-old's hands were in his pockets, citing witness testimony. Baumgartner refuted that claim, however, with testimony from a medical examiner who said that Alex's wounds were not consistent with his hands having been in his pockets.

Baumgartner also pointed to a timestamp on the taser, which showed that it was fired three times during the shooting. In response, Pointer called the validity of the timestamp into question, noting a technician had recalibrated the timestamps after the shooting to account for naturally-occurring "time drift." He said the time drift made the reading inconclusive.

About 100 people gathered at the Federal Courthouse on March 1, the start of the the civil trial against four officers for the death of Alex Nieto. Image: Gillian Edevane

Conflicting witness testimonies did little to elucidate the facts of the case.

A key witness for the defense, Evan Snow, testified that Nieto pointed his taser at him and his dog. Snow told the jury he thought he was "gonna get shot" and feared for his life.

Snow's reliability was called into question with texts he sent to a friend following the shooting. In the texts, Snow wrote that he wished he could move to Florida so he could have shot Nieto and gotten away with it, presumably a reference to the state's controversial "Stand Your Ground" law. An earlier deposition Snow gave may have also cast doubt on his recollection of events leading up to the shooting. He claimed to have been distracted by a female jogger's "butt" while walking his dog at the park.

Posters and banners lined the courthouse steps throughout the trial. Image: Gillian Edevane

Meanwhile, San Francisco resident Antonio Theodore took the stand and told jurors that he saw the "shocking" shooting unfold, and that officers fired at Nieto while the 28-year-old's hands were still in his pockets. However, under fierce cross examination by city attorneys, Theodore admitted that he had a drinking problem and was fuzzy when it came to remembering dates and times.

After the trial, the Nietos and their supporters attended a gathering at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, where Refugio spoke through a translator about the jury's decision.

"It's a shame on this city," he said. "We need to understand that this is a danger to our grandchildren, to all of us, to our children." Elvira stood by her husband, looking down and holding a bouquet of flowers. (English translation of Nieto's remarks begin at the 2:18 mark in the video below.)

Since the shooting of both Nieto and Mario Woods, a black man who was shot more than 20 times after refusing to drop a knife, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee vowed to make changes to the police department.

In February, the city announced that it would implement extra firearms training that emphasizes the use of other protective devices, including stun guns and batons. The reform package, which was backed by police chief Greg Suhr, also expands the city's Crisis Intervention Team, which is trained to deal with high-risk situations.

"These type of sweeping changes will need all of us — advocates, city officials, community members and police officers alike — to work together to rebuild community trust," Lee said in a February statement.

For Nieto's family, who celebrated what would have been Nieto's 30th birthday on Friday, Lee's statements likely offered little comfort.

“Even now, I hear his voice,” said Elvira Nieto to the jury. “My heart cannot accept that he is not here.”