Because he was convicted of manslaughter, Sean Haverty faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

He also faces a minimum sentence of four years in prison – and that’s the part that has relatives of the man he killed concerned.

“When we heard it was manslaughter, it just devastated the entire family,” Dave Corbit said Saturday.

“We couldn’t believe it.”

Jurors convicted Haverty of manslaughter on Friday, after a little more than four hours of deliberations.

The conviction stems from the June 18, 2015, shooting death of Chris Schweitzer.

Haverty had been charged with first-degree murder. The jury was given four options for Haverty’s fate: guilty of first-degree murder, guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of manslaughter, and not guilty.

Haverty and Schweitzer were neighbours on Tiffany Street in Guelph. The shooting occurred near the front door of Schweitzer’s home.

On the day of the shooting, jurors heard, Haverty was overheard talking about wanting to kill somebody.

Testifying in his own defence, Haverty said that Schweitzer attacked him first, and that he fired two shots in self-defence – then returned to his house, unsure if the shots had hit anybody.

Haverty’s lawyer, Ari Goldkind, said outside court that the verdict suggested jurors likely gave credence to the idea that his client was acting in self-defence.

“The speed with which the jury decided this case, I think, speaks for itself,” he said.

“This suggests to me that this was a jury that was paying very close attention.”

Schweitzer’s relatives, though, say they don’t see how anyone who sat through the trial could have come to the conclusion that Haverty was not planning to kill Schweitzer.

“It broke my heart to think that he could get away with that,” said his sister, Karen Thompson.

Relatives say they were hoping Haverty would be found guilty of first-degree murder, but understood that second-degree murder might be a more likely scenario.

“He was heard by neighbours ranting that he was going to kill somebody,” said Corbit, Schweitzer’s cousin.

“How that’s not first-degree murder (or) at the very least second-degree murder is crazy.”

Corbit describes Schweitzer as a man who would help out anybody in need at any time.

“We called him the gentle giant – and that’s exactly what he was,” he said.

Sentencing for Haverty is expected to take place in May or June.

With reporting by Stu Gooden