Mountie murder trial hears of gunshots

Of the witnesses who have told a court they heard gunshots the day an RCMP officer was killed in Hay River, N.W.T., none called police and apparently only one made any effort to see if anyone was hurt.

Colin Lafferty, 43, told an N.W.T. Supreme Court jury in Yellowknife on Tuesday that he recognized the sound of shots he heard from his bed early on Oct. 6, 2007, at the time when Const. Christopher Worden, 30, was killed.

Emrah Bulatci, 25, is charged with first-degree murder in Worden's death. While Bulatci's lawyers have said he did shoot the police officer four times, he did not intend to kill him.

Lafferty testified on Tuesday that shortly after he heard gunshots, he heard someone running by the back of his apartment building. He went outside and saw an empty police cruiser and another man with a police scanner.

"We were waiting for the RCMP to show up, but nothing," Lafferty told the court.

He testified that he later walked to a nearby convenience store. Upon returning to his apartment building, he said a police officer was there, but seemed hesitant to go where Lafferty said the shots came from.

Lafferty said he walked around the building twice, trying to see if anyone was hurt.

When more police officers arrived, he directed them to where he had heard the gunshots. Lafferty said he saw them find Worden's body shortly thereafter.

Bulatci's father and mother joined their son in the Yellowknife courtroom on Tuesday, for the first time since the seven-week trial began Oct. 21.

Of the nine witnesses who have reported hearing shots, three were teenage girls who had been walking in the area.

A videotape was played in court Tuesday in which one of the girls, now 17 years old, says she saw one man chasing another around the apartment building Lafferty lived in.

The teen, who cannot be identified under a publication ban, said the chase ended near some trees, when the man fleeing slid to the ground and fired four times at the man chasing him.

The girl said she saw flashes and the pursuer's head twist around just before he dropped to the ground.

The man with the gun stood up and looked at the fallen man for a few seconds before running away, she said.

The teen was in court on Tuesday and under cross-examination admitted she could not now recall all the details of that day, and might have exaggerated some of the claims she made on the tape.

She said that after the shooting, she we went to a friend's house for a short time and then home.

At the time, she was under a court order not to be out at an address near where the shooting took place.