(AP) — Gov. Dave Heineman says he’s greatly relieved at a judge’s decision to keep a Nebraska man who killed six people locked in a state mental hospital.

Heineman said Wednesday that the ruling would help ensure public safety. His comments came after 68-year-old Erwin Simants was ordered to stay at the Lincoln Regional Center.

Erwin has lived at the facility since 1979, when he was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting deaths of six members of the Kellie family of Sutherland. Prosecutors say Simants shot and killed Henry and Marie Kellie; their son David; and three of their grandchildren in 1975.

Four experts testified last month that Simants is no longer mentally ill, but the judge ruled that he still might pose a public threat.