A Winnipeg man found guilty of mass murder in a rooming house took the verdict stoically Thursday but then began fighting the sheriffs in court.

Minutes after being convicted of five counts of second-degree murder by a jury, and after the jurors had left the room and court was adjourned, Jamie Felix tried to talk to supporters in the courtroom gallery when sheriffs intervened.

Felix became visibly upset as they tried to pull him away.

I just want to say something (to my friends), Felix protested, and a melee ensued, in which Felixs shirt was ripped off and one sheriff threatened to pepper spray him.

“Stop it, Jamie! Stop it! the sheriffs shouted as they eventually subdued Felix and led him out in handcuffs in Court of Kings Bench.

The jurors returned with a verdict just hours after being sequestered to deliberate.

Audible sighs were heard in the packed courtroom as the guilty verdicts were read out. Felix showed no emotion at that time.

He had pleaded not guilty to the 2023 killings that occurred at a rooming house in the West Broadway building that had basically degenerated into a drug den.

Court heard police were called to the multi-unit building early on Nov. 26, 2023, to find five people had been shot. Two victims were pronounced dead at the scene and two others died in hospital.

The victims were identified as Crystal Beardy, 34; her sister Stephanie Beardy, 33; Melelek Lesikel, 29; Dylan Lavallee, 41; and Shawn Marko, 56.

Marko died last year after spending 18 months in hospital. Court heard from a medical expert that he died from pneumonia linked to being shot three times.

The jury heard conflicting theories about who pulled the trigger.

The Crown argued Felix was driven by paranoia after spending days drinking and smoking crack at the house.

Crown prosecutor Chantal Boutin told court Felix became uncomfortable at the home and believed people were acting strange. He tried to ask for more information from his father and brother, who were also in the suite, but received no answers, said Boutin.

Court heard Felixs father and brother were associated with a gang that operated the drug den in the rooming house, but that Felix had no gang ties himself.

Felixs brother provided the man with a bulletproof vest and a handgun, which led Felix to grow concerned he was being used as muscle because of his military background.

Accounts from those closest to Felix detailed a loving person who took pride in his military training and was in college to further his education. When Felixs twin brother, Johnathen, died in a drug deal gone wrong, he turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain, Mary Felix said about her son.

Felixs former girlfriend of three years testified that Felix confessed to the killings and admitted that he tried to shoot himself with the same gun afterward, but there werent any bullets left.

Felix’s lawyer, however, pointed to Felixs late father as the trigger man. Theodore Mariash suggested to the jury that Felixs father was intent on robbing the suite and planned to set up his son to take the fall.

The trial heard that the father died in January.