SHOOTING BLINDSIDES COMMUNITY

Residents of this northwestern Alberta town were in shock over the
slaying of four RCMP officers at the hands of a lifetime resident.

"I'm sick. I don't know what to tell you," said Mayor Albert Schalm.
"It shocks me that this could even happen."

In a small town people have a different relationship with police,
Schalm said. Indeed, residents spoke about seeing them at town
banquets, playing hockey or even in the local bar.

People in this town of 1,570 huddled around radios in the hardware
store and by their pickup trucks as the tragedy unfolded. At the end
of the day the flag in front of the local Legion was lowered to half
staff.

James Roszko, 46, believed to be the assailant, was found dead in the
Quonset hut along with the four dead police officers. He was
well-known in the town and had a reputation as being violent and
mentally unstable.

"The cops have known him for a long time," said Pat Burns, a local
carpenter. "The justice system doesn't have the balls to do what needs
to be done."

Although he had had his differences with some RCMP officers in the
past, Burns said they unfairly take the brunt in incidents like this.

Burns also said Roszko had befriended his stepson years ago even
though Roszko was much older. When Roszko gave the boy a new jacket,
Burns said he sent it back with a note telling him to stay away from
his stepson.

Several people in town spoke of longstanding rumours that Roszko had
weapons hidden on his property.

He was described as a loner. Several people told the same story about
an enumerator being warned to stay off his property before the last
provincial election. When she did drive onto the property her tires
were blown out when she drove over planks studded with spikes.

Tina Haben, who lives about one kilometre from Roszko's property, knew
he had previous problems with the police and had seen police on his
property before.

It was not the first violent event in the area -- less than two years
ago there was a home invasion at a trailer park -- but Haben who
immigrated from Germany with her husband 13 years ago, said she'd only
feel safe again when the incident is all over.

"It's a bad thing -- I didn't think that things like this would happen
in my neighbourhood," said Haben, a real estate agent.

An uncle of Roszko, who wouldn't give his name, said he hadn't seen
him for years but he knew that he had been in trouble with the law and
that "the police were riding him constantly." But he said most people
in the family had little to do with him.

Residents weren't aware of the marijuana grow operation but they
weren't surprised. Schalm said that drugs have become a problem in
small town Alberta, just like everywhere else, when the amount of
disposable income rises.

Bob Walker, a former fire chief, said it's not surprising that bad
incidents like this could happen in a small town. "You like to think
you have a nice town and everybody is happy, but that is not quite the
way it is when you've got the human factor."

In Whitecourt, Mayor Trevor Thain said: "It's a sad, sad day in
Whitecourt. It's hard to put stuff like this into words, especially
when one of your own is involved. My heart goes out to the family and
to the families of the other officers who were killed.

"The detachment is a great bunch of people and I'm sure I can't even
begin to imagine how they feel right now."

Thain said the Whitecourt detachment has about 15 officers while the
Mayerthorpe detachment only has about three or four members. Those
numbers don't include a highway patrol unit which is administered
through the Whitecourt detachment.