San Francisco (CNN) A jury on Thursday found an undocumented immigrant not guilty in the July 2015 death of Kate Steinle, a decision that reignited the debate over immigration policy. 
 
 Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, 45, was acquitted of murder and involuntary manslaughter charges, as well as assault with a deadly weapon. Jurors convicted the Mexican citizen of being a felon in possession of a firearm, which could bring a three-year sentence. 
 
 Prosecutors had argued Garcia Zarate intentionally shot Steinle, 32, with a Sig Sauer .40-caliber handgun as she and her father walked on San Francisco's Pier 14. But Garcia Zarate's defense attorney said the shooting was accidental and the bullet ricocheted off the ground and traveled about 80 feet before hitting Steinle. 
 
 Federal immigration officials said they will try to deport Garcia Zarate. He had been deported from the United States five times prior to Steinle's death. 
 
 Reaction to the jury's decision, after more than 24 hours of deliberation over six days, was swift. President Donald Trump called the verdict "disgraceful." Attorney General Jeff Sessions said San Franciso's status as a sanctuary city was largely to blame for what happened that summer day. Before the shooting, officials in San Francisco released Garcia Zarate from custody instead of turning him over to immigration authorities. 
 
 Kate Steinle, 32, was killed in July 2015. 
 
 "A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration," the President tweeted. 
 
 A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2017 
 
 "I urge the leaders of the nation's communities to reflect on the outcome of this case and consider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens by refusing to cooperate with federal law enforcement officers," Sessions said in a statement. 
 
 Sessions said: "When jurisdictions choose to return criminal aliens to the streets rather than turning them over to federal immigration authorities, they put the public's safety at risk." 
 
 Conservative pundit Ann Coulter said Steinle "would still be alive if we had a wall," referring to the President's call for the construction of a border wall between the US and Mexico. 
 
 Jury convinced that illegal alien killed Kate Steinle accidentally. She would still be alive if we had a wall. — Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 1, 2017 
 
 But one of the defendant's lawyers said the debate over immigration didn't belong in the case. 
 
 "From day one, this case was used as a means to foment hate, to foment division and to foment a program of mass deportation," public defender Francisco Ugarte said. 
 
 "Nothing about Mr. Garcia Zarate's ethnicity, nothing about his immigration status, nothing about the fact that he is born in Mexico had any relevance as to what happened on July 1, 2015," the defense attorney said. 
 
 Steinle's family: Justice 'was not served' 
 
 Assistant District Attorney Alex Bastian said prosecutors were disappointed in the verdict but respected the jury's decision. 
 
 "I can't stress this enough, this really is about the Steinle family. They've shown incredible resolve in this whole process," he said. "Our hearts go out to them." 
 
 Steinle's family did hear the jury's decision. Before the verdict, they told the San Francisco Chronicle that above all, they were looking forward to no longer being in the spotlight. 
 
 "We just want to get this over with and move on with our lives, and think about Kate on our terms. Nothing's been on our terms. It's been on everyone else's terms," said Steinle's father, Jim. 
 
 After the verdict, Jim Steinle told the Chronicle he was "saddened and shocked." 
 
 "There's no other way you can coin it. Justice was rendered, but it was not served," he said. 
 
 Deportation imminent? 
 
 Tom Homan, deputy director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also criticized San Francisco's sanctuary city policy. 
 
 "San Francisco's policy of refusing to honor ICE detainers is a blatant threat to public safety and undermines the rule of law," he said in a statement. "This tragedy could have been prevented if San Francisco had simply turned the alien over to ICE, as we requested, instead of releasing him back onto the streets. ... Following the conclusion of this case, ICE will work to take custody of Mr. Garcia Zarate and ultimately remove him from the country." 
 
 The fatal shooting 
 
 Steinle, her father and a friend were at the pier when a bullet struck Steinle's lower back and tore through her abdominal aorta, authorities said. 
 
 Surveillance video showed Garcia Zarate running away. After his arrest, investigators found gunshot residue on his right hand, prosecutor Diana Garcia told jurors. 
 
 Garcia Zarate faced a charge of second-degree murder, but jurors also were allowed to consider first-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter convictions. 
 
 Prosecutors said Garcia Zarate was playing his own "secret version of Russian roulette" and deliberately fired into an unsuspecting crowd on the pier, killing Steinle. 
 
 Defense attorney Matt Gonzalez said Garcia Zarate found the gun at the pier. He said it was wrapped in cloth, and when Garcia Zarate unwrapped it, the gun accidentally discharged. 
 
 But in a police interrogation, Garcia Zarate admitted to firing the gun, saying he was aiming at a seal. 
 
 Juors began deliberating Tuesday in the murder trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate. 
 
 He told police that he stepped on the gun, causing it to fire. 
 
 Prosecutors said Garcia Zarate immediately tried to cover his tracks by throwing the gun into the San Francisco Bay, then fleeing the scene. 
 
 Garcia Zarate was formerly known as Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, one of several aliases he is known to have used. CNN and other media outlets previously identified him as Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez. 
 
 Sanctuary cities and 'Kate's Law' 
 
 Steinle's death stirred an already heated debate over immigration. Before the shooting, officials in San Francisco had released Garcia Zarate from custody instead of turning him over to immigration authorities. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Officials sued after Kate Steinle's death Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Officials sued after Kate Steinle's death 02:00 
 
 Freya Horne, chief legal counsel to the San Francisco County Sheriff, said in a 2015 interview that Garcia Zarate was let go because there was no legal cause to detain the suspect. 
 
 Steinle's family filed a lawsuit in 2016 alleging that San Francisco and its former sheriff were partly to blame for Steinle's death, because officials never notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement when Garcia Zarate was released from a local jail in April 2015. City officials have said they're not liable for a former inmate's actions. A federal judge dismissed the family's claims against San Francisco and former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi earlier this year. 
 
 Steinle's death became a rallying cry for Trump and others, who have invoked the case in decrying sanctuary cities and promoting the construction of the border wall. 
 
 "This senseless and totally preventable act of violence committed by an illegal immigrant is yet another example of why we must secure our border immediately," Trump said in July 2015. "This is an absolutely disgraceful situation and I am the only one that can fix it. Nobody else has the guts to even talk about it. That won't happen if I become President." 
 
 Trump also mentioned Steinle in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention after winning the Republican presidential nomination. 
 
 This summer, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3004, dubbed "Kate's Law" -- a measure named for Steinle. The legislation would increase maximum prison penalties for immigrants caught repeatedly entering the US illegally. 
 
 The measure was introduced in the Senate but failed to get the 60 votes needed to pass. ||||| The Latest: Trump: 'Disgraceful verdict' in pier shooting 
 
 Now Playing: 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Latest on the trial of a Mexican man in a killing on a San Francisco pier (all times local): 
 
 7:45 p.m. 
 
 President Donald Trump says there was a "disgraceful verdict" after a Mexican man was found not guilty of murder in a high-profile killing that touched off a fierce immigration debate. 
 
 Trump's tweet comes three hours after Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was found not guilty in the killing of Kate Steinle. Jurors did convict him of being a felon in possession of a firearm. 
 
 Trump says it is "no wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration." 
 
 Jose Ines Garcia Zarate had been deported five times and was wanted for a sixth deportation when the shooting happened. He said it was an accident. 
 
 Under a sanctuary city law, the San Francisco sheriff's department had released Garcia Zarate from jail despite a federal immigration request to detain him for deportation 
 
 ____ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Image 1 of 4 San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, left, answers questions after a verdict was reached in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in San Francisco. A jury on Thursday found Garcia Zarate not guilty on possible charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the 2015 death of Kate Steinle on a popular pier. Jurors did find Garcia Zarate guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. less San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, left, answers questions after a verdict was reached in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in San Francisco. A jury on Thursday found Garcia ... more Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP Image 2 of 4 Alex Bastian, Deputy Chief of Staff with the San Francisco District Attorney's Office answers questions after a verdict was reached in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in San Francisco. Garcia Zarate was found not guilty in the killing of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier that touched off a national immigration debate two years ago, rejecting possible charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to first-degree murder. less Alex Bastian, Deputy Chief of Staff with the San Francisco District Attorney's Office answers questions after a verdict was reached in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in San ... more Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP Image 3 of 4 Matt Gonzalez, chief attorney of the San Francisco Public Defenders Office, center, fields questions after a verdict was reached in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in San Francisco. Garcia Zarate was found not guilty in the killing of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier that touched off a national immigration debate two years ago, rejecting possible charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to first-degree murder. less Matt Gonzalez, chief attorney of the San Francisco Public Defenders Office, center, fields questions after a verdict was reached in the trial of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in San ... more Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP Image 4 of 4 FILE - This undated file booking photo provided by the San Francisco Police Department shows Jose Ines Garcia Zarate. A jury has reached a verdict Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in the trial of Mexican man at center of immigration debate in the San Francisco pier shooting. (San Francisco Police Department via AP, File) less FILE - This undated file booking photo provided by the San Francisco Police Department shows Jose Ines Garcia Zarate. A jury has reached a verdict Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in the trial of Mexican man at center ... more Photo: AP The Latest: Trump: 'Disgraceful verdict' in pier shooting 1 / 4 Back to Gallery 
 
 7:20 p.m. 
 
 U.S. immigration officials say they will deport a Mexican man acquitted of murder in the shooting of woman on a San Francisco pier that touched off a fierce debate over immigration. 
 
 Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan said Thursday that immigration officials will take custody of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate once his case concludes. 
 
 A jury found Garcia Zarate not guilty in the 2015 death of Kate Steinle. Jurors did convict him of being a felon in possession of a firearm. 
 
 Garcia Zarate had been deported five times and was wanted for a sixth deportation when the shooting happened. He said it was an accident. 
 
 Under a sanctuary city law, the San Francisco sheriff's department had released Garcia Zarate from jail despite a federal immigration request to detain him for deportation 
 
 ____ 
 
 6:20 p.m. 
 
 The father of a woman who was shot and killed on a San Francisco pier said he was shocked when a jury acquitted a Mexican immigrant accused of murder in the case. 
 
 Jim Steinle told the San Francisco Chronicle the family was saddened and shocked by Thursday's verdict. 
 
 He said, "justice was rendered but not served." 
 
 A jury found Jose Ines Garcia Zarate not guilty in the killing of Kate Steinle, who was strolling with her father on a crowded San Francisco pier when she was shot in 2015. 
 
 Garcia Zarate did not deny shooting Steinle and said it was an accident. 
 
 The Steinle family did not attend court to hear the verdict. 
 
 They spoke to the Chronicle in an exclusive interview that they said would be their last public comments. 
 
 Her father said the family has felt frustration and sadness but not anger or vindictiveness since the killing. 
 
 Even if Garcia Zarate had received a sentence of 100 years, the father said, "it doesn't solve anything, it doesn't help anything." 
 
 ___ 
 
 5:45 p.m. 
 
 U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he hopes local officials will "consider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens" by not cooperating with federal immigration officials. 
 
 His comments come after a Mexican man was found not guilty Thursday of killing a woman on a San Francisco pier in a case that touched off a national immigration debate. 
 
 Sessions says San Francisco's "decision to protect criminal aliens led to the preventable and heartbreaking death" of Kate Steinle. 
 
 Jose Ines Garcia Zarate had been deported five times and was wanted for a sixth deportation when Kate Steinle was fatally shot in the back in 2015. Garcia Zarate said the shooting was an accident. 
 
 Under a sanctuary city law, the San Francisco sheriff's department had released Garcia Zarate from jail despite a federal immigration request to detain him for deportation 
 
 ____ 
 
 5:30 p.m. 
 
 A spokesman for the San Francisco district attorney says the acquittal of a Mexican man in a high-profile killing was not the verdict they had hoped for. 
 
 A jury on Thursday found Jose Ines Garcia Zarate not guilty on possible charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of Kate Steinle on a popular pier. 
 
 Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the San Francisco prosecutor's office, said the "verdict that came in today was not the one we were hoping for" but it was the jury's decision and prosecutors would respect it. 
 
 Jurors did find Garcia Zarate guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. 
 
 Public Defender Jeff Adachi said that charge carries a potential sentence of 16 months to 3 years. 
 
 ___ 
 
 5:10 p.m. 
 
 A defense lawyer for a Mexican man acquitted of murder in the shooting of woman in San Francisco directed a message to President Donald Trump, who had frequently cited the case during his campaign for tougher immigration policies. 
 
 Defense attorney Francisco Ugarte said Thursday the death of Kate Steinle was an "incomprehensible tragedy," but the ruling was a vindication for immigrants. 
 
 Ugarte said the case was used "to foment hate" and used "to catapult a presidency along that philosophy of hate of others." 
 
 He said the immigration status of defendant Jose Ines Garcia Zarate had no relevance to the case and the verdict was a correct reflection of what transpired. 
 
 Garcia Zarate did not deny shooting Steinle in 2015 and said it was an accident. 
 
 He had been deported five times and was wanted for a sixth deportation when Steinle was fatally shot in the back in 2015. 
 
 ___ 
 
 4:35 p.m. 
 
 Jurors have found a Mexican man not guilty of murder in the killing of a woman on a San Francisco pier in a case that touched off a national immigration debate. 
 
 The jury reached the verdict Thursday in Kate Steinle's death. 
 
 Jose Ines Garcia Zarate had been deported five times and was wanted for a sixth deportation when Steinle was fatally shot in the back in 2015. Garcia Zarate didn't deny shooting Steinle and said it was an accident. 
 
 Before the shooting, the San Francisco sheriff's department had released him from jail despite a federal immigration request to detain him for deportation. 
 
 Its "sanctuary city" law limits cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities. 
 
 President Donald Trump cited the case during his campaign in a bid to show the country needed tougher immigration policies. 
 
 ___ 
 
 3:30 p.m. 
 
 A jury has reached a verdict in the trial of a Mexican man accused of killing a woman on a San Francisco pier in a case that touched off a national immigration debate. 
 
 Jurors alerted the judge Thursday that they had a verdict in the death of Kate Steinle. Word came hours after they asked to see the gun used in the shooting. 
 
 Jose Ines Garcia Zarate had been deported five times and was wanted for a sixth deportation when Steinle was fatally shot in the back in 2015. Garcia Zarate said the shooting was an accident. 
 
 Under a sanctuary city law, the San Francisco sheriff's department had released Garcia Zarate from jail despite a federal immigration request to detain him for deportation. 
 
 President Donald Trump frequently cited the case during his campaign. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By Daniel Arkin and Corky Siemaszko 
 
 The homeless Mexican immigrant who was pilloried by then-candidate Donald Trump after he was accused of fatally shooting a woman on a San Francisco pier was found not guilty of murder on Thursday. 
 
 Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, 45, was acquitted in a case that galvanized anti-immigration forces and forced San Francisco officials to defend their "sanctuary city" policy. 
 
 Kathryn Steinle, 32, died in her father's arms when she was shot on July 1, 2015, while they and a family friend were strolling along Pier 14 in the city's tourist-friendly Embarcadero district. 
 
 "We're just shocked — saddened and shocked ... that's about it," Jim Steinle, Kate's father, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "There's no other way you can coin it. Justice was rendered, but it was not served." 
 
 Trump seized on the case during the campaign as proof that the United States needs his proposed border wall and weighed in on what he called the "disgraceful verdict" in a tweet. 
 
 A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2017 
 
 In other tweets early Friday, Trump said the man who killed Steinle had come "back and back over the weakly protected Obama border, always committing crimes and being violent, and yet this info was not used in court." He added that the jury was not told that Garcia Zarate was a seven-time felon. 
 
 And in a statement Friday, the White House called on Congress to secure the border, "provide the resources" for deportations and "finally stop sanctuary city policies that cause needless loss of innocent life." 
 
 "Had San Francisco enforced our nation's immigration laws, the Steinle family would be celebrating this holiday with all of their loved ones," the White House said. 
 
 The judge in the trial did prohibit discussion of Garcia Zarate's immigration status and the mention that he was deported to Mexico, but returned to the U.S. five times. Instead, jurors were told to focus on the events surrounding Steinle's death. 
 
 Defense attorneys maintained that Garcia Zarate’s history of deportations and drug offenses were nonviolent crimes. But in her closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Diana Garcia said the suspect found the gun somewhere and deliberately fired at Steinle in "his own secret version of Russian roulette." 
 
 Kathryn Steinle was shot dead at San Francisco’s Pier 14 while out for an evening stroll with her father along the waterfront in 2015. Steinle Family 
 
 The bullet that felled Steinle ricocheted off the pier's concrete walkway before it struck her. 
 
 Garcia Zarate was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He could face up to three years in state prison for that charge, although he has already served more than two years behind bars and could get credit for time served. 
 
 But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said late Thursday that it wants him deported instead. 
 
 "Following the conclusion of this case, ICE will work to take custody of Mr. Garcia Zarate and ultimately remove him from the country," said Tom Homan, the agency's deputy director. 
 
 A Justice Department official said the federal government is considering bringing charges against Garcia Zarate. 
 
 "We're looking at every option and we will prosecute this to the fullest extent of the law because these cases are tragic and entirely preventable," DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said on "Fox & Friends" on Friday. 
 
 Defense attorney Matt Gonzalez told jurors that the shooting was a tragic accident and that prosecutors were pushing a "wild narrative of a desire to hurt someone he does not know." 
 
 Gonzalez said that Garcia Zarate found the semi-automatic handgun wrapped in a shirt under a chair on the pier — and that it went off by accident when he picked it up. 
 
 The weapon, as it turned out, had been stolen from a federal Bureau of Land Management ranger a week before. 
 
 The six-man, six-woman jury was asked to consider first-degree murder, second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges against Garcia Zarate. 
 
 After he was elected president, Trump signed an executive order to cut funding from cities that limit cooperation with immigration authorities, a policy that a federal judge in San Francisco permanently blocked last week. 
 
 Garcia Zarate, who also used the name Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, had been deported five times before the deadly encounter. He had finished a federal prison sentence for illegal re-entry into the United States and was transferred in March 2015 to San Francisco's jail to face a 20-year-old charge for selling marijuana. 
 
 But three months before the deadly encounter on the pier, Garcia Zarate was released after the district attorney dropped the marijuana charge — despite a request by federal immigration authorities to detain him for yet another deportation. 
 
 Attorney General Jeff Sessions expressed his displeasure over the verdict in a statement that claimed San Francisco's decision to release Garcia Zarate "led to the preventable and heartbreaking death of Kate Steinle." 
 
 "The Department of Justice will continue to ensure that all jurisdictions place the safety and security of their communities above the convenience of criminal aliens," Sessions said. "I urge the leaders of the nation's communities to reflect on the outcome of this case and consider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens by refusing to cooperate with federal law enforcement officers." 
 
 Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was one of the seven Republican senators who in January reintroduced "Kate's Law" — which would create a five-year minimum sentence for those immigrants who illegally re-entered the country — and shared his anger over the verdict on Twitter. 
 
 I am disappointed and angry at the not guilty verdict for Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an illegal alien who had several felony convictions & was deported from the US five times. Justice must be served for Kate Steinle. https://t.co/IxiL9WCU50 — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 1, 2017 
 
 Eric Swalwell, the Democratic congressman who represents Steinle's district, also said he was disappointed by the verdict. 
 
 "I greatly respect our jury system," Swalwell tweeted," but I could not disagree more with this verdict. I pray for Kate's family." 
 
 CORRECTION (Dec. 1, 7:10 a.m.): An earlier version of this article misstated Kathryn Steinle's age. She was 32 when she died, not 33.
– President Trump slammed the "disgraceful" verdict Thursday after a Mexican citizen was found not guilty of murder in the 2015 shooting death of Kate Steinle at a San Francisco pier. "No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration," Trump tweeted Thursday night, and he kept up his criticism Friday morning. "BUILD THE WALL!" he wrote. Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, a 45-year-old undocumented immigrant who had already been deported from the US five times, was also acquitted by a jury on charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon, CNN reports. Steinle was fatally shot on July 1, 2015, as she walked on Pier 14. Zarate's defense attorneys said he found a handgun wrapped in a shirt under a chair and it accidentally went off as he picked it up, NBC reports. The gun turned out to have been stolen from a federal agent days earlier, and prosecutors argued that Zarate deliberately pointed it at the 32-year-old Steinle. Zarate—who was wanted for a sixth deportation when he was arrested for the shooting—was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm and will be sentenced at a later date. Months before the shooting, Zarate was released under San Francisco's "sanctuary city" policy, and Trump complained Friday that he "came back and back over the weakly protected Obama border." He added that the "Schumer/Pelosi Democrats" are weak on crime and "will pay a big price in the 2018 and 2020 elections." Steinle died in the arms of her father, Jim Steinle, who tells the San Francisco Chronicle that the family is shocked and saddened by the verdict. "Justice was rendered but not served," he says.