ROOKIE OFFICER GUNNED DOWN

Gunman's Farm Heavily Fortified

Gave Police a Hard Time: Neighbour

His first day on the job was this past Valentine's Day. He was the kid
on the team.

Const. Brock Myrol, only 29 years old, was one of four RCMP officers
gunned down yesterday on a farm outside the sleepy hamlet of
Mayerthorpe, Alta.

The Toronto Star last night confirmed that Myrol was among the fallen
officers. A source said he was the youngest of the four.

"I wanted the opportunity to work with people and make a difference,"
he told the Mayerthorpe Freelancer for a feature story about his
arrival on the force.

"I saw all the good things I could do for people and I enjoyed
that."

He and his fiancee, Anjila, had just moved to Mayerthorpe.

Myrol grew up in Red Deer where he studied arts at Red Deer College
and had worked as a security guard.

In Mayerthorpe and the nearby tiny hamlet of Rochfort Bridge,
townspeople are still trying to grasp today how one of their own could
have been responsible for one of the worst mass police slayings in
Canadian history.

Jim Roszko, a one-time farmer and former oil rig driller, was named by
relatives and neighbours as the man responsible for the shooting
deaths yesterday of the four junior RCMP constables as they conducted
surveillance on a suspected marijuana grow operation.

Investigators discovered five bodies -- the four dead police officers
and Roszko -- in a large metal shed on the farm.

"He just shot four police officers," said Johnny Roszko, who
identified himself as a distant cousin.

Mayerthorpe residents last night said Jim Roszko, 46, had been
involved in a high-speed chase Wednesday, which sparked a police
investigation that involved a search warrant for the buildings in his
isolated farmyard, about 120 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

"Wednesday night Roszko was involved in a high-speed chase, we're
hearing from neighbours," said local radio reporter Byron Christopher.
"He wasn't arrested; police couldn't find him."

"They waited for him to return to his place -- they had some officers
stake out his place," Christopher said. "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.

"Neighbours," Christopher said, "were describing it like trying to get
into Fort Knox."

One of Roszko's neighbours, who asked that his name not be used, said
police "had a suspicion that Roszko had a marijuana grow op on his
property. When they got a search warrant, they found out that he also
had a chop shop," the man said, referring to garages where stolen cars
are chopped up for reuse in other vehicles.

Two officers were assigned to guard Roszko's farmyard overnight, the
man said, adding they were joined by two more officers early yesterday
morning.

At some point the shooting broke out.

"They were ambushed," the neighbour said.

When the four officers failed to answer their radios, two other
officers were sent to the farm to check up on them.

"Two other RCMP plainclothes officers were sent out at about 10 a.m.,"
the man said. "The guy was there shooting at them as they came in.
This guy was a known nut case for years and years."

Although investigators are remaining tight-lipped while they piece
together the details, townspeople say they are hearing that Roszko was
killed when police sharpshooters returned fire. But conflicting
reports say Roszko, who owned several guns -- including a high-powered
rifle -- killed himself.

At one point armoured military vehicles were called in from Edmonton,
but the call was cancelled before troops could arrive at the Roszko
farm.

Bill Roszko, the gunman's father, described him as "a bad
son.

"He was in jail about two years ago," he said. "Once he shot a boy in
the face. I haven't seen him in nine years. It's terrible news."

Neighbour Dianne Romeo described the gunman as someone who kept to
himself.

"He was a loner. He was in jail for a few years. This didn't happen
because of this marijuana bust," she said. "He always gave the RCMP a
hard time."

Romeo said she was in her farmhouse when "we heard the gunshots," and
walked out of the house to watch.

Roszko, she said, "protected his privacy. He had spike belts out, gate
padlocks, two scary guard dogs," said Romeo. "One was an Akita and
wolf-cross, and other was a Doberman rottweiler cross. They were huge."

Romeo recalled several incidents that demonstrated just how far Roszko
would go to protect his privacy.

"The woman who went to enumerate his property drove over the spike
belt and had four flat tires. The whole town heard about it," said
Romeo. "The gas meter readers wouldn't go to read his meter because
the same thing happened to them," she said.

Johnny Roszko, a partner in a local construction firm, said he won't
be going to his cousin's funeral.

"No, I will definitely not be going," he said. "One of the officers
might be a buddy of mine from Whitecourt."

Residents flocked to local restaurants and the RCMP detachment
yesterday as news of the shootings spread, gathering in small groups
to talk about it.

Christopher, who was outside the Mayerthorpe RCMP detachment
yesterday, said the grief extended inside, where officers were
gathered following the shooting.

"You could hear them crying through the doors," Christopher said. "You
could hear people inside the RCMP detachment crying through the doors,
muffled sobbing."

Outside, he said, "dozens and dozens" of police cruisers from as far
away as Edmonton jammed the small town's streets.

Roszko, who for the past 15 years lived in a trailer on 200 hectares
of land northeast of Mayerthorpe, was known as someone to stay away
from, one local resident said.

"He had spike belts. He was a gun nut.

"One night he tied up some kids and beat them with a gun, and put them
in a pick-up truck," said the neighbour, who did not want his name
used.

"This is common knowledge in Mayerthorpe."