I am falling in the mindset of “Kyle is not a hero at all, but he is not a villain”.
He is a kid who made a stupid set of choices... but was not out for criminal reasons. We can go the chain of causality On Kyle... “but for his actions, none of this would have occurred”. But in this case, that can be applied to the original “victim”. But for his actions of attempting a disarm Kyle, none of this would have happened.
He is a lot like Zimmerman, who I am also not a fan of. But like Zimmerman, being stupid is NOT a crime. Prosecutors look for motive. Was Kyle out to loot, steal, assault? Or was he simply doing what he thought was the right thing, and thought he was helping deter crime? Both of them got in over their head, but was there any criminal intent in their action?
At the moment the trigger was pulled, would a reasonable person have felt they risked death or serious bodily injury if they failed to react? Kyle is outnumbered 50 to 1, and (Per the police affidavit) has an aggressive guy charge him and try and pull the rifle away from him, as another man cranks off a pistol round about 20 feet away, only then does Kyle fire... Did he reasonably fear for his life when he pulled the trigger?
I think EVERYONE involved made poor choices. The first incident for Kyle is on video, but is so dark that it is not clear cut. However, the witness statement in the affidavit makes it look like Kyle was on the defensive when he shot. You try and take a gun from someone, there is a good chance you could get shot doing it. The other shootings look pretty clear cut. The mob thinks they are “doing the right thing by stopping a murderer”, and the kid reasonably believes they are going to beat him to death in the street. But he is not indiscriminately cranking off rounds. He fires enough to stop immediate threats, and clearly tries to retreat in each instance. He even ran to the police and told them he did it... That does not scream mass shooter, he did not try and hide his actions.
The kid is stupid for being there, but everyone out that night was stupid for being there. Trying to be a jr policeman was stupid, and charging/attacking a kid armed with a rifle is equally stupid. Convict him on the minor in possession of a firearm. But murder? That is a steep hill for the prosecutor to climb. With the location of the trial, the jury pool could help the kid. Had this happened in Chicago or Portland, the kid would be toast.