'WICKED DEVIL' SUSPECT IN SLAYING OF FOUR MOUNTIES

Officers Shot, Killed During Raid Of Alberta Grow-Op

MAYERTHORPE, Alta. -- Four RCMP officers -- including three who formed
almost the entire membership of a rural detachment -- were shot and killed
Thursday in one of the darkest days in RCMP history.

Not since the 1885 North-West Rebellion have so many Canadian police
officers been killed at once while on duty. The tragedy shook the RCMP from
its top officers to its junior constables, and prompted condolences from
everyone from the prime minister on down.

The officers -- one of whom was identified by his family as Const. Brock
Myrol, 29 -- were investigating a suspected marijuana-growing operation at
a farm near Mayerthorpe, a community about 130 kilometres northwest of
Edmonton.

The officers were guarding the scene of an investigation at a large Quonset
hut when shots were fired by a lone gunman who apparently caught the
officers by surprise. The gunman died at the scene.

Police said they had raided the farm the day before and two of the officers
had been guarding the site overnight. The other two officers joined them in
the morning. Shots were heard at 10 a.m., the property was surrounded and
police stormed the building four hours later, only to find the bodies of
the four officers and the gunman.

The suspect, identified by family members as James Roszko, 46, was known
and feared by local residents as a loner who took potshots at visitors and
had a criminal record. His own father denounced him as evil.

"I hate what has happened. I feel terrible. He is not my son. He is a
wicked devil," a frail-sounding William Roszko, 80, said of the son he has
not seen in nine years, despite living nearby.

At an emotional news conference in Ottawa Thursday evening, RCMP
Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli confirmed the deaths.

"It is an unprecedented and unspeakable loss," he said.

It was the worst police shooting since the North-West Rebellion in central
Saskatchewan, when 12 officers died. The next worst police shooting
occurred in 1935 when four officers -- including three Mounties -- were
killed over four-day period as police pursued a group of young bandits
across three Prairie provinces.

Prime Minister Paul Martin expressed his condolences from Ottawa, where the
Liberal party policy convention held a moment of silence for the slain
officers.

"Canadians are shocked by this brutality, and join me in condemning the
violent acts that brought about these deaths," Martin said in a statement.
"This terrible event is a reminder of the sacrifice and bravery of the men
and women who serve in our national police force, and of the dangerous
circumstances which they often confront, in order to make Canada a safer
place."

RCMP say three members who died were from the Mayerthorpe detachment and
one from a detachment in nearby Whitecourt. A family friend said Myrol had
started with the Mayerthorpe detachment on Feb. 14. He was originally from
Red Deer, Alta.

Myrol's grandmother, Frances Myrol, 80, of Outlook, Sask., said her
grandson, who had given his fiance a ring just this past Christmas, had
talked about the RCMP since he was a boy.

"He was a very kind fellow," she said. "He got along with everyone. He had
a dog, black and white."

She said he realized it was a dangerous profession but "he felt there was
danger in anything you did."

Myrol's cousin, David Myrol, a prominent Edmonton lawyer, said the family
is very close, with the slain officer at its very nucleus.

"We were all very proud of Brock," he said Thursday. "He was such an
important part of the family."

The young man's family is anxious to know all the circumstances surrounding
Thursday's shootings, he said.

"We'll be asking questions about what happened," said Myrol, a partner with
Mclennan Ross. "There's no doubt."

The other officers were not immediately identified.

It was a scene of sadness and shock in Mayerthorpe, where police had set up
an operations base at a Legion hall. Relatives of the deceased officers
began arriving in mid-afternoon. One woman collapsed in tears after
speaking with one of the officers, then got in her car and drove away.

Officers dressed in bullet-proof vests and carrying high-powered rifles
came and went from the operations base, many with tears in their eyes.

At the farm, RCMP had set up roadblocks around the property and the air
space over the area was closed throughout the day. Police also asked for
help from the military.

Maj. Scott Lundy, a spokesman for Edmonton Garrison, said two armoured
personnel carriers, an ambulance and about 20 military personnel were
dispatched from the military base, but about two hours later, police told
the military their help was no longer needed.

People in the 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 mast.

Emotions ran high, with local residents striking out at reporters and
photographers who had descended on the town. One CBC cameraman was
reportedly punched in the eye by a relative of one of the deceased officers.

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

Many expressed anger that Roszko, long known as being violent and mentally
unstable, had not been incarcerated.

"Cops have known about 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."

Several people in town said there were rumours of Roszko hiding weapons on
his property. The suspect is also reputed to have put planks with spikes in
his driveway. When scrutineers came in before the last provincial election,
the spikes blew out their tires.

Whitecourt Mayor Trevor Thain said the Whitecourt detachment had about 15
officers while the Mayerthorpe detachment only had about three or four, not
including the highway patrol unit, which is administered through
Whitecourt. The shooting in effect wiped out the Mayerthorpe detachment.

In Alberta Premier Ralph Klein was shaken by the deaths.

"The violent slaying of four Alberta RCMP officers in the line of duty is a
crime of horrific proportions. It saddens me beyond words," Klein said.

In B.C., Attorney-General Geoff Plant said the tragedy should dispel any
doubts people might have about the dangerous nature of marijuana
grow-operations.

"I think there is an attitude that is part of our culture in British
Columbia that thinks that a grow-op is just your neighbor making a couple
of bags of marijuana for some of his friends," Plant said in an interview
at the legislature, shortly after learning of the deaths. "Whether that was
ever true -- 20 or 30 years ago -- it's sure not true today.

"We're talking about the commercial manufacture of marijuana for the
purpose of participating in an international organized crime activity.
That's very serious business."

In Ottawa, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan called the Mounties "four
brave, selfless public servants." She said the work that police officers do
is dangerous and "some days they pay an enormous price."

The leader of the official Opposition also expressed his condolences Thursday.

"This incident serves as a poignant reminder of the men and women in law
enforcement across our country who risk their lives daily," said
Conservative party Leader Stephen Harper. "We join them to mourn the loss
of their fallen colleagues."

Forty officers in Canada have died in the line of duty since 2000,
including seven in 2004.