GUNMAN AMBUSHES RCMP, KILLS SELF

ROCHFORT BRIDGE - His voice tight with grim self-control, Alberta's
commanding RCMP officer groped for a way Thursday to describe a
catastrophic drug raid that left four young officers lying dead on a
farm.

"I'm told you have to go back to about 1885 in RCMP history and the
Northwest Rebellion to have a loss of this magnitude," said assistant
commissioner Bill Sweeney.

"It's devastating. We're all in terrible shock and
mourning."

One of the dead officers had been on the job for only two weeks, said
published reports. Another was a 33-year-old constable who has been
working in the area for almost four years.

Also killed was the man believed to have shot the officers, a
46-year-old loner described by his father as a "wicked devil."

The peace of this gently rolling farm country near the hamlet of
Rochfort Bridge in northwestern Alberta was shattered Thursday morning
in the tragic culmination of an investigation into stolen property and
a marijuana grow-op.

Some area residents told reporter Byron Christopher from Edmonton
radio station CHED that it all started Wednesday with a high-speed
chase involving the gunman and RCMP.

"He wasn't arrested - police couldn't find him," Christopher told
the Toronto Star.

"They waited for him to return to his place ... It was high on a
hill, if anyone tried to approach he'd know about it. It was a heavily
fortified area. It was heavily fenced, three locked gates with spike
belts."

RCMP Cpl. Wayne Oakes said officers placed the man's farmyard under
surveillance. Two officers stood guard overnight and more arrived the
next morning.

When the four officers who were killed entered a large metal quonset
hut on the property, they were wearing soft body armour and carrying
handguns.

"They were not going into a potential armed conflict," said Oakes.
"They were guarding a scene."

Suddenly, two officers from the RCMP auto theft unit arrived and heard
gunfire in the hut. The male suspect came out and fired at them, then
retreated back inside.

The auto theft officers took cover and returned fire.

After the shots died down, none of the police on the property
responded to their radios.

Emergency response teams from Calgary and Edmonton were called to the
scene. The Edmonton Police Service's helicopter was called, as were
three armoured vehicles from the Canadian Forces' Edmonton Garrison.

Finally, at about 2:20 p.m., an RCMP team burst into the quonset to
confirm their worst fears: four dead officers - "brave, young
officers," said Sweeney - and the dead gunman.

A government source told The Canadian Press the suspect, who was armed
with a high-powered rifle, killed himself after shooting the officers.

"He just cut them down," the source said.

Oakes said the suspect was known to police.

While police have yet to confirm the name of the gunman, several
people in the community identified him as Jim Roszko, 46.

His father, William Roszko, 80, said RCMP called him earlier Thursday
to ask him questions about his estranged son.

He told the Winnipeg Free Press he "felt terrible ... he is a wicked
devil."

The father said Jim got out of jail a year or two ago.

"He was keeping company with bad boys, dope and what not, and ended
up in jail," Roszko said.

The deaths of the four officers - three from Mayerthorpe, one from
nearby Whitecourt - rocked law enforcement officials and politicians
across the country.

Prime Minister Paul Martin called it an act of "brutality" and
offered his condolences to the families of the slain officers.