The Fredericton man who shot four people, including two police officers, while in the grip of delusions about demons and a pending apocalypse has been found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

The jury delivered its verdict on the fourth day of deliberations following a nine-week trial that explored the dimensions of mental illness and the need for justice in a tragedy that devastated families and shook a community to its core.

Relatives of the victims in court hugged each other and sobbed after the verdict was announced on Friday. Raymond bowed his head and wiped away tears but said nothing.

Outside the court, Jackie McLean, widow of Fredericton police constable Robb Costello, who died in the shooting, said the verdict was not unexpected. But she said it's a bitter pill to swallow.

“Obviously the mental health system failed the Raymond family in the first place, and now I feel as though the criminal justice system has failed us,” said McLean, who was wearing blue to honour the fallen police officers.

Nathan Gorham, lead defence lawyer for Raymond, said his client is “grief-stricken” by the enormity of his crime. But Gorham said the verdict was the right one considering that Raymond was “very, very ill and was incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of what he was doing.”

“Personally I would prefer if we could advance to a less adversarial system, once a person acknowledges they have done the crime and where people don't feel there are winners or losers at the end,” Gorham said. “The fact is, Mr. Raymond will remain in custody unless the process decides at some point in time, which could be far off in the future, that he is no longer a threat to the public.”

Raymond, 50, will be held in a psychiatric hospital in northern New Brunswick. There will be a disposition hearing next month in court at which time family members can give victim impact statements. There will also be a hearing to have Raymond declared high risk.

The trial revived memories of a difficult time in the New Brunswick capital, a city known for its quiet, tree-lined streets and low crime rate.

The four victims left behind many grieving relatives, and the Aug. 10, 2018 shootings shocked the city. “Our hearts are broken,” Fredericton Mayor Mike O'Brien said at the time of the tragedy. “We grieve as one.”

The shooting is one of three mass killing events that have shaken the normally tranquil Maritimes. In 2014, a shooter in Moncton, N.B., killed three RCMP officers and injured two. Then in April of this year, a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 22 people and injured three - the deadliest such rampage in Canadian history.