PHOENIX (AP) -A man accused of planning a massacre at this year's Super Bowl was convicted Thursday of federal charges.

Kurt Havelock faced six counts of mailing threatening communications in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.

Authorities alleged the 36-year-old Havelock bought an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition from the Scottsdale Gun Club on Jan. 30. The documents say Havelock wanted to kill people at the Feb. 3 Super Bowl in Glendale.

However, Havelock had a change of heart. He called his parents, and they persuaded him to turn himself in to Tempe police.

Havelock's father said his son was generally a good person who was being punished for momentarily snapping.

``I know what kind of kid he is. If he was a bad kid, I'd say 'you deserved what you got.' But he's not,'' Frank Havelock said. ``He needs to talk to a counselor. He doesn't need to be incarcerated.''

He told the FBI he wanted to commit the slayings in retaliation for the Tempe City Council rejecting his liquor application for a restaurant he had recently opened.

In a manifesto mailed to various media outlets, Havelock vowed to ``shed the blood of the innocent,'' according to court documents. ``No one destroys my dream,'' he wrote.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.