The lawyer for a Glanbrook homeowner accused of murder claims the man "felt his life was in danger" and was protecting himself and his property during a shooting incident that left another man dead.

Peter Khill, 26, has been charged in the shooting death of Jon Styres, 29, of Ohsweken.

Police believe Styres was trying to steal a pickup truck from Khill's driveway.

Khill is an award-winning student at both Waterford District High School and Mohawk College, according to his online profile, and was a rotating equipment expert with GE Power in Mississauga.

James Styres says his cousin will be dearly missed by his family and the whole community.

Styres described the victim as a family man, loved by everyone and with a good sense of humour.

"In this community, a lot of lives are touched when you are gone."

Defence lawyer Derek Martin said self-defence will be the cornerstone of their case.

"That's my understanding at this point. That (Khill) was protecting his property and protecting himself," Martin said Friday.

Martin said his client will plead not guilty to the second-degree murder charge.

Asked whether there was a struggle between the accused and the victim, Martin did not say.

"That is getting into the heart of what happened. Let's just say he believes he acted in self-defence. He was defending himself primarily," Martin said, adding his client was also defending his property.

Martin said his client, who has no previous criminal record and had served as a reservist with a Brantford artillery regiment of the Canadian Armed Forces, has advised he felt his life was in danger.

"That's my understanding at this point," the lawyer said. "I believe he felt his life was in danger, let's put it that way.

But Hamilton police offered a different take on the matter.

"We feel very comfortable that this is a murder," Det. Dave Oleniuk of the homicide unit told The Spectator Friday.

Oleniuk also said the only 911 call officers responded to "was for someone who has been shot."

Martin said he believes Khill's girlfriend called 911 after the Thursday 3 a.m. shooting at his client's Highway 56 home.

Khill has been remanded in custody and returns to court Tuesday via video link.

Scott Moodie said Khill was a helpful neighbour.

"He is just a super, nice guy. Young guy, hard worker. … That's all he does is work on his shop and works," he said.

James Styres, the cousin, says Jon was a cigarette machine operator at Grand River Enterprises. He didn't come from a wealthy family and grew up with challenges inherent to his community.

"Living on the reserve, you experience things that non-natives might not be able to understand.

"It's a hard way of living for aboriginal people these days."

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He said his cousin's upbringing doesn't excuse him for being at Khill's residence at 3 a.m. — whatever the circumstances may have been — but he didn't deserve to die.

Jon's Facebook page features a litany of messages from friends and family expressing condolences.

One post shows a picture of two girls described as his daughters. It asks people to "share the memories you have of our dad. … We won't be lucky enough to know him ourselves so this will be all we have."

Meanwhile, a "FreePeterKhill" page has been set up on Facebook.

Dustin Woloschuk, who lives less than a kilometre from the $300,000 home Khill purchased last July, added his support.

Woloschuk, who owns Glanbrook landscaping and property maintenance business, said in the last few months there had been a spate of thefts from people's cars and garages in the area.

Coun. Brenda Johnson, who represents the area, is generally satisfied with the level of policing.

"I'm not hearing a whole lot of scuttlebutt about the length of response for an emergency.

"The police in my opinion … if the incident is severe enough, people know the police will be there. You can't swing a cat in Binbrook village without hitting an off-duty police officer. They all seem to want to live there."

But the Thursday homicide is the talk of the ward.

"I want to reiterate there are two families that have been just shattered overnight. I'm thinking about both families right now," Johnson said.

Jaime Stephenson, president of the Hamilton Criminal Lawyers Association, said to prove self-defence one must prove the response was proportional to the threat of personal harm or loss of property.

"The issue that will have to be determined is No. 1, was there a potential threat of harm to the person? Was the threat imminent and was the response proportional to the threat," Stephenson said.

The Styres homicide is Hamilton's third of 2016, all of which have occurred in less than two weeks.