PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Jurors have found a Florida police chief not guilty of culpable negligence in the death of a former Twin Cities woman who was accidentally shot during a citizens academy “shoot/don’t shoot” exercise.

Local news outlets reported that Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis was acquitted Thursday.

Authorities say former officer Lee Coel mistakenly shot and killed 73-year-old Mary Knowlton during a role-playing scenario last summer. Prosecutors had argued that Lewis, as Coel’s boss, was partially responsible.

Lewis’ attorney told jurors that it was the officer’s failure to provide standard safety checks that led to the retired librarian’s death on Aug. 9.

Coel has been charged with manslaughter, and his trial is set for next year.

Knowlton was the librarian at Parkview Elementary School in Rosemount from 1988 to 2004, then worked in a substitute capacity at other schools in the district through 2013, according to the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district.

She also worked at the Scott County Public Library in the 1980s and was an active community member in Prior Lake, where she lived, serving on the library board from 1993 to 2001.

Knowlton and her husband, Gary, most recently lived in Prior Lake before moving to Florida upon retirement, where she continued her librarian work and served on the Friends of the Punta Gorda Library board of directors.