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An Edmonton man was convicted of attempted murder Friday for shooting his landlord between the eyes with a modified flare gun in a dispute over unpaid rent and a missing cat.

Kyle Valentine Ziegler, 34, was also found guilty of possession of a dangerous weapon and pointing a firearm without lawful excuse in connection with the Sept. 14, 2012, shooting of Devin Schafers.

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Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Wayne Renke accepted the victim’s version of events — saying it was “astonishing” that he wasn’t more seriously hurt — and rejected Ziegler’s testimony that the gun had been in his pocket for self-defence and it had discharged accidentally when he brought it out in a panic to protect himself.

Court heard Schafers, a renovator, lived in the basement of his bungalow and rented rooms upstairs to several tenants, including Ziegler, who owed about $1,000 in back rent.

Schafers testified he had been lying in bed paying bills on his iPad when he got up to go get another bill. As he opened his bedroom door, he said he saw a hooded figure holding a gun levelled at his head.

Schafers said no words were exchanged and the gunman pulled the trigger from less than a metre away.

He told court he bled profusely, but once he realized he was still alive, he ran and tackled the gunman. At that point, he realized it was Ziegler and said the tenant began giving bizarre excuses about one of the other tenants putting him up to it.