FOUR DEAD IN RCMP'S DEADLIEST DAY IN CENTURY

Gunman With High-Powered Rifle Surprises Officers

MAYERTHORPE, Alta. - Four RCMP officers were killed yesterday
investigating a suspected marijuana growing operation at a farm near
this community about 130 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

One of the slain officers was identified by a family friend as
Constable Brock Myrol, 29, of Red Deer. Const. Myrol was on his first
posting as a Mountie and had been in Mayerthorpe less than three weeks.

The bloody encounter -- the deadliest for the force since the 1880s --
will spark a renewed debate about how best to deal with the massive
proliferation of marijuana grow-ops, which the head of RCMP yesterday
called a "plague."

The four male officers -- three from the Mayerthorpe detachment and
one from nearby Whitecourt -- were conducting an investigation at a
farmhouse in Rochfort Bridge near Mayerthorpe yesterday morning when
shots were fired by a gunman who apparently caught the officers by
surprise.

The gunman, who was armed with a high-powered rifle, also died at the
scene.

The officers and the shooter were not immediately identified and the
exact causes of death were not revealed yesterday.

The prime suspect is the owner of the farm, James Roszko, a
46-year-old with a lengthy criminal record and a reputation as a
loner. He was known by neighbours to frequently shoot rifles on his
property and occasionally in the direction of people.

Mr. Roszko's father, who has not spoken to his son in a decade, called
him "a wicked devil" yesterday.

"He'd been bad for years. The police knew that," said the man's
brother, George. "Man alive, this is horrible ... I just feel terrible
for the police."

Several people in town said there were rumours of Mr. Roszko hiding
weapons on his property. He 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.

Two of the dead officers were at the farmhouse overnight, guarding the
scene in an investigation that also involved stolen property, said
RCMP Corporal Wayne Oakes. The other two officers joined them in the
morning. Other Mounties who were on the scene heard shots at 10 a.m.

Cpl. Oakes said the slain officers were simply guarding the alleged
crime scene and had no reason to believe they were in imminent danger.
He said they would have been wearing their regular uniforms and
bullet-proof vests and been carrying sidearms.

He said at least one of the officers at the scene returned
fire.

RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli paid tribute to the four
officers and called grow-ops a "plague" on Canadian society.

"Today we recognize with gratitude and respect that four of our own
paid the highest price to fight this fight," said a sombre Comm.
Zaccardelli.

The officers, he said, "went to work not knowing on this day they
would be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice."

Canada's top Mountie said he did not have many details yet on the raid
in Mayerthorpe, but that he was confident that officers would have
done "due diligence" and obtained the necessary resources they
required for the operation.

"But policing and these major operations are never without risk. This
is the tragedy of what happened here."

Comm. Zacardelli also warned about the danger of grow
ops.

"The issue of grow ops is not a ma and pa industry as we have been
saying for a number of years," he said.

"These are major, serious threats to our society, and they are major
serious threats to the men and women on the frontline who have to deal
with them. They are booby trapped. They are high risk issues and major
organized organized crime, in many cases, is involved."

He added: "This is a plague on our society now."

Prime Minister Paul Martin released a statement saying Canadians are
"shocked by this brutality, and join me in condemning the violent acts
that brought about these deaths.

"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."

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

More than 100 officers were on the scene after the shootings
yesterday, along with soldiers from the Canadian Armed Forces who
provided three Bison armoured vehicles.

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

Just after 2 p.m., officers stormed the building and found the bodies
of the four officers and the suspect.

"There are four dead," an officer said at the police operations base
at a Canadian Legion Hall in Mayerthorpe as relatives of the deceased
officers arrived mid-afternoon.

One woman collapsed in tears after speaking with an officer, then got
in her car and drove away.

There was confusion throughout the day after Alberta Solicitor-General
Harvey Cenaiko told reporters that officers were executing a search
warrant when they were met with gunfire.

The four officers had failed to respond to their radios after
conducting the raid.

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

In Whitecourt, Mayor Trevor Thain said: "The detachment is a great
bunch of people and I'm sure I can't even begin to imagine how they
feel right now."

Mr. 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 that is administered
through the Whitecourt detachment.

Roszko was described as a loner who lived in a trailer on the west
side of the farm, and his mother lived in a home on the other side of
the large farm.

According to a local reporter, a combined RCMP-Edmonton police drug
squad came to the farm on Monday morning and seized evidence.

The officers who were shot were not part of the drug squad.