While Matthew de Grood has been found not criminally responsible (NCR) for the mass killings of five young people, the question remains whether he will be labelled high-risk — something his lawyer does not want to see happen.

The high-risk designation would mean harsher restrictions on de Grood's movements, and his case would be reviewed once every three years, rather than annually.

"I want my client to have every opportunity available to him to show that he has done everything that he can to get himself better," said Allan Fay, his defence lawyer.

Fay says the high-risk designation should only apply to individuals who fail to participate in treatment or are unable to be treated successfully. He said de Grood does not fall into either of those categories.

"Let's be clear. He won't really have a choice. He will be supervised for the rest of his life, and frequently," Fay said.

A desire to 'get better'

For the first time, de Grood addressed the friends and family of the people he killed through a statement he prepared. It was read by his lawyer Wednesday, shortly after the NCR decision was issued.

"He expressed his desire to start moving forward, to continue with his treatment and do everything in his power to, for lack of a better term, get better," Fay said.

"These were things that he felt people needed to hear from him. Those are his intentions. To give those people some comfort, or some hope that something like this would never happen again."

Relatives of the victims did not seem receptive to the statement, with some saying they will "never fully heal" and that "the finding of NCR will be a recurring nightmare for our families."

Miles Hong speaks on behalf of families of 5 people killed by Matthew de Grood after a judge decided de Grood was not criminally responsible for the fatal stabbings at a Calgary house party in 2014. 4:33

Fay said their position is "understandable."

"I fully appreciate that the families and friends of the victims are grieving and will continue to grieve for a long time, if not forever. I think their responses are understandable when you take that into account."

A judgment call for health professionals

Fay said he addressed the victims' families on his client's behalf because de Grood was "understandably nervous under the circumstance, standing up in front of that many people and making that statement."

Ultimately, Fay said whether the high-risk designation is applied or not is a judgment call for de Grood's mental health professionals to make.

"Even when individuals who have been found to be NCR are released in the community, they are supervised closely," Fay said.

"They are given injectable anti-psychotic medications so that everybody can rest assured they are getting their medication."