Emrah Bulatci has been found guilty in the shooting death two years ago of a northern RCMP officer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

YELLOWKNIFE — An Alberta man has been found guilty in the shooting two years ago of a northern RCMP officer.

Emrah Bulatci hung his head and the officer’s widow cried when a jury in Yellowknife convicted him of first-degree murder.

Const. Chris Worden was responding to a call in Hay River, N.W.T., when he was shot four times.

Bulatci testified during his trial that he fired twice at the officer’s legs during a foot chase, but never meant to kill him. He said the fatal two shots were accidental as the pair wrestled on the ground for control of Bulatci’s gun.

The Crown argued that Bulatci did intend to kill the Mountie because he continued to keep enough pressure on the trigger for the gun to go off not once, but twice

Witnesses at the trial said Bulatci had been at a party, where he was dealing drugs and showing off a gun in the hours before the Mountie’s death on Oct. 6, 2007.

Testimony indicated Worden spoke to Bulatci briefly outside a taxi cab parked in front of the house, and chased him into a wooded area, where the dead officer was found.

Bulatci, 25, tried to plead guilty to manslaughter at the start of his trial last month, but the prosecution rejected that. His defence lawyer acknowledged he was an unsavory character, but argued he only meant to wound the officer when he shot him.

Police searched for Bulatci for almost a week after the shooting before he was arrested at an Edmonton housing complex.

Worden, who was 30, left a wife and a young daughter.

The shooting shocked Hay River and for many the memory remains painful.

Since the murder, the town has worked to keep youth facilities open longer to give young people something productive to do, and anti-drug programs have also been reinstated.

The community also has financed a head-and-shoulders statue of Worden to stand permanently as a memorial at the recreation centre.

Within a month of Worden’s death, a second young Mountie was killed on duty in a remote northern community. Const. Doug Scott, 20, was shot while responding to a call in Kimmirut, Nunavut.

The deaths caused the force to review its procedures and staffing policy for small detachments.

Deputy Commissioner Bill Sweeney said at the time that Mounties attending any call with a threat of violence would have to travel in pairs and off-duty officers would be required to back up anyone working alone.