EDMONTON - At least five people heard gunshots the morning a Northwest Territories RCMP officer was shot to death, but it was more than two hours before anyone found Const. Christopher Worden curled up on the ground with multiple wounds.

That contention was sworn to by Yellowknife RCMP Cpl. Michael LeSage as part of an application for a search warrant in Edmonton that contained information from multiple officers who investigated Worden's Oct. 6 death in Hay River, N.W.T.

The material, including interviews with people who witnessed events around the officer's death, has not been heard in open court.

After an intense, week-long search by police forces from across Alberta and Saskatchewan, Emrah Bulatci, 23, was arrested at an Edmonton house and charged with first-degree murder in Worden's death.

The search warrant application said Worden was called to a report of a suicidal man at about 5 a.m. After responding to that call, he stopped at a nearby house.

"Const. Worden was not heard from again,'' said LeSage.

About an hour later, RCMP dispatchers began to worry at the lack of radio communication from the officer, according to the sworn affidavit. Another officer was dispatched to check up on him.

At 8 a.m., he was found about 200 metres from his car, "lying on his right side, left hand up near his face, curled up.''

He was bleeding from gunshot wounds to his neck, chest and abdomen, and was pronounced dead in hospital half an hour later.

The warrant application indicated that those interviewed by Worden's colleagues gave a first glimpse into what happened in between. Various people admitted they both saw and heard the events that led to Worden's death, but no one called police.

One witness said she saw both a taxi and a police car parked outside the house where she had been hanging out with an man she knew as "Justin'' earlier in the evening, according to the affidavit.

It said she said she heard someone yell "run'' and saw Justin running away from the taxi, followed by a police officer. They weaved behind a building, back onto the road, and then into the trees.

Suddenly, the woman heard two gunshots, followed by a pause, then a series of two or three other shots.

She also described seeing "fire'' coming from the direction of the shots, as well as seeing "one of the males snap his head back and fall limp to the ground after the shots,'' according to the affidavit.

Police have said Bulatci also went by the name Justin Elise.

The document indicated that another witness, the man driving the taxi, said two men originally emerged from the house that morning. As a third man came out, an RCMP officer pulled up behind him and asked that man to put his hands on the trunk of the car.

The driver said the man seemed like he was ready to be searched, but then ran toward the trees, according to the affidavit. The officer chased after him, and about 30 to 40 seconds later the driver heard two bursts of shots. The taxi driver "initially thought it was the officer who was shooting at the male running from him,'' and drove the other two men to another house.

The document indicated that one man interviewed by police said that the two men who had been in the taxi and Justin both came to see him later in the morning.

He said the two other men told him that Justin "might have hurt a cop,'' and that Justin himself told him "Tom, I killed a cop,'' according to the sworn affidavit. He said that he asked Justin if he was sure, to which Justin replied "I shot and ran.''

The affidavit suggested that upon further questioning, however, the man would only tell police that the two other men told him that Justin ran from police and that he only heard Justin on his front step and didn't talk to him.

The affidavit alleges police identified a fingerprint lifted from the rear right taxi door as Bulatci's right middle finger.

Bulatci was arrested Oct. 12 after a standoff outside an Edmonton housing complex that lasted several hours. Jarred Nagle, 21, who is charged with acting as an accessory to murder after the fact, also left the house.

The affidavit said Nagle told police that he received a phone call from Bulatci, who was crying and told him "he had no other place to go,'' so he gave him a place to stay.

A list of items seized from the residence also paints a picture of the time Bulatci spent in hiding before he was found by police.

A number of newspapers were found lying around the house. Worden's death and the hunt for Bulatci had been front-page news for several days before he was caught. Quantities of cocaine and marijuana were also found.

Police had seized a vehicle outside Edmonton that had supposedly been associated with Bulatci in Hay River. However, a Greyhound Bus ticket for a trip from Hay River to Grande Prairie, Alta., was found at Nagle's residence. It was dated the day Worden died.

Bulatci is in custody in Yellowknife, where he is next scheduled to appear in court Dec. 13.