KILLER AMBUSHED MOUNTIES

RCMP Confirm: Constables Returned Fire - Gunman Killed Himself

The four junior constables who were shot and killed in an ambush this week
returned fire on the gunman who killed them, RCMP officials confirmed Saturday.

But it wasn't police bullets that killed James Roszko. Roszko died by his
own hand, as police on Saturday revealed the gunman killed himself after
surprising the Mounties who were guarding a criminal investigation on his
property.

"James Roszko was hit by return fire from our officers," RCMP Supt. Marty
Cheliak said Saturday in Mayerthorpe. "Those strikes did not result in his
death. James Roszko then took his own life."

Cheliak ruled out the possibility that friendly fire claimed any of the
officers' lives.

Cheliak said Roszko managed to slip back into the Quonset hut while police
were watching it in the hours prior to the Thursday-morning shooting, but
investigators weren't sure how he did so.

Cheliak did not make it clear if one of the four officers shot Roszko or
whether it was two additional officers who arrived minutes after the
shooting and exchanged gunfire with Roszko.

Roszko, 46, was a convicted child molester, a community menace and a known
cop-hater.

After releasing the results of post-mortems on the officers and Roszko,
Cheliak defended the RCMP's decision to send the four constables -- one of
them just 17 days on the job -- onto the property in Rochfort Bridge. The
officers -- three from the detachment in nearby Mayerthorpe, and another
from Whitecourt -- were in constant contact with supervisors and other
officers and were well armed, said Cheliak.

"Officers on scene were also equipped with 12-gauge shotguns and a
.308-calibre long-barrel rifle in addition to their force-issued
nine-millimetre sidearms," he said.

"Two officers were left to guard the scene and were accompanied by four
additional officers when the ambush occurred in the morning," Cheliak said.

Also Saturday, some members of the slain officers' families spoke for the
first time.

Kelly Johnston, who was recently married to 32-year-old Lionide (Leo)
Johnston, quietly told a crush of reporters she lost her soulmate.

Married 31/2 months, Leo

hadn't even seen their wedding photos, she said.

"Leo deserved so much more out of life and Leo had so much more to do and
see," she said Saturday in front of Mayerthorpe's RCMP detachment.

"Leo deserved to go on our honeymoon. And Leo deserved to come home. And
most of all, most importantly, Leo deserved to live."

In Stony Plain, Don Schiemann, the father of 25-year-old Peter Schiemann,
said he wishes he could have sacrificed himself for his son.

"I so wished I could have taken the bullet for him, but that was not to
be," said Schiemann, speaking Saturday from the pulpit of the Lutheran
church where he is a minister. "Peter gave his life in the service of God
and country."

Amid family and friends, Schiemann remembered baptizing his son in a
makeshift church in a school gymnasium in Corunna, Ont., dipping his
fingers in baptismal bowl resting on a school desk -- a chafing dish that
he and his wife, Beth, had received as a wedding gift.

'Those whom the Lord loves, he chafens," Don said. "I baptized my son. I
confirmed my son and I'm going to bury my son."

A funeral will be held for Peter Schiemann Tuesday in the St. Matthew
Lutheran Church in Stony Plain. A service will be held Friday for Johnston
in Lac la Biche, for immediate family and friends.

Individual services for the other officers are being planned for this week
and a large memorial service is scheduled for Edmonton on Thursday. Prime
Minister Paul Martin may attend.

As funeral arrangements are made, questions linger about how the officers
could have been ambushed.

The warrant application for the investigation indicates the officers were
aware Roszko could be armed and dangerous. It also noted that while he
probably fled the scene, he was "believed to be in the area of his property."

One officer cautioned her colleagues before leaving for the night.

"When I went, I told the boys to make sure everything's clear, because he's
watching us," Const. Julie Letal said, explaining police knew Roszk had
weapons.

But RCMP Cpl. Wayne Oakes said the Mounties didn't think Roszko was nearby
as two officers waited overnight for auto theft investigators from
Edmonton. It was after they were joined by another pair of constables that
Roszko snuck onto the scene and shot the officers dead, said Oakes.

"We had every reason to believe that he was not there during that time
period while they were there guarding that structure," Oakes said.

It's still not clear how the Mounties -- Anthony Gordon, Lionide (Leo)
Johnston, Brock Myrol and Peter Schiemann -- were overtaken inside the
Quonset hut.

"We're not certain how (Roszko) got in there at this point," said Cheliak.
"That will hopefully be determined."

In Mayerthorpe, anger grows where religious leaders are calling for tougher
treatment of criminals and more support for rural police.

"There is anger in the community," said Arnie Lotholz, the Pentecostal
pastor and town disaster services director.

Tensions ran high Saturday at Rosko's farm as police officers were quick to
pull out their shotguns while guarding the crime scene where the four RCMP
officers were murdered.

The officers pulled their guns for a general, unspecified security threat,
then aimed them at a truck that pulled up to their check point. The truck
turned out to belong to a local resident, who police let by.

But that anger is not just directed at Roszko, said Lotholz. Rather,
community members are frustrated with the system that let such a tragedy occur.

"It's against the justice system that has let us down again and again," he
said, reflecting a common sentiment in Mayerthorpe that Roszko should have
been in jail because of earlier offences. "The community knows that,"
Lotholz said. "They feel frustrated because they've been let down by the
justice system."