4 DEATHS MARK WORST POLICE SLAYING IN YEARS

Killing Stuns Nation As Mounties Hit By Biggest Casualty Since 1885

TORONTO - A bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" and flags flew at half-staff
Friday as Canadians grappled with the deadliest attack on police officers
in 120 years, after four Mounties were slain during a raid on a marijuana
farm in a rural western hamlet.

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

The four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers had been investigating a
farm in Mayerthorpe, a hamlet of some 1,300 people in western Alberta province.

Spokesman Cpl. Wayne Oakes said the four Mounties and the suspected gunman
were found in a Quonset hut on the farm late Thursday. A government source
told The Canadian Press the suspect killed himself after shooting the officers.

Police identified the four Mounties as Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon,
Lionide Johnston and Brock Myrol.

"The loss of four police officers is unprecedented in recent history," said
Bill Sweeney, commanding officer of the Mounties in Alberta. "I'm told you
have to go back to about 1885 ... during the Northwest Rebellion to have a
loss of this magnitude."

The Northwest Rebellion was an unsuccessful attempt by indigenous rebels to
establish an independent nation in the northwestern frontier.

The suspect was identified by police as James Roszko, 46. Authorities say
he had a long criminal record, including the use of illegal firearms and
sexual assault.

Oakes said the Mounties were investigating reports of stolen property and
marijuana on Roszko's property.

Sgt. Rick Oncescu said two SWAT teams were called into the area and
Mounties from surrounding jurisdictions also responded when the four
officers did not respond to radio calls Thursday afternoon.

"This is something that happens in Hollywood, but it never happens here,"
Albert Schalm, the town's mayor, told CBC TV. "I think it will change the
community. It will just make everybody more aware that there are drug
problems, even out here in rural Canada."

In 2002, there were 152 homicides by firearms in Canada, according to
federal statistics, compared with 11,829 homicides by guns in the United
States for that same year.

But Canada is grappling with an increase in organized crime behind the
multibillion-dollar marijuana industry.

"It is an unprecedented and unspeakable loss," said RCMP Commissioner
Giuliano Zaccardelli in a statement.

"We know that these are the most serious challenges, made complicated by
the involvement of organized crime, the availability of weapons and the
risks posed by individuals who choose the path of violence and destruction
over peace and good."

The officers were armed only with handguns.