4 MOUNTIES SHOT, KILLED

ROCHFORT BRIDGE, Alta.

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 in a quonset hut.

"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."

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.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Wayne Oakes said the operation began Wednesday
afternoon, when officers from the local Mayerthorpe detachment placed
the farmyard just north of the community under surveillance. Two
officers remained at the farm overnight. Thursday morning they were
joined by backup. Although the occupant of the farm had not been there
overnight, at some point he had returned.

At about 10 a.m., four officers walked on to the property and entered
a large metal quonset hut. 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, officers remaining on the road heard gunshots and took
cover, at least one of them returning fire. After the shots died down,
none of the police on the property responded to their radios.

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 a fifth dead man.

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

While police have yet to release the name of the suspect, several
media are reporting the man as Jim Roszko, 46.