IN THE LINE OF DUTY

Gunman Kills Four Mounties: A Police Raid on an Alberta Marijuana Operation
Goes Terribly Wrong, Shocking the National and Touching Off Calls for A
Crackdown

ROCHFORT BRIDGE, ALTA., CALGARY -- Four Mounties were shot dead during a
raid on a marijuana grow operation in central Alberta yesterday, the
force's biggest loss of life in a violent act in 120 years.

The killings sent shock waves of grief through this remote, rural community
and sparked calls for stricter laws to control the explosive growth of
grow-ops.

"The loss of four police officers is unprecedented in recent history in
Canada," said Assistant Commissioner Bill Sweeney, commanding officer of
the RCMP's Alberta division. "I'm told you have to go back to 1885 in RCMP
history during the Northwest Rebellion to have a loss of this magnitude.
It's devastating."

The officers were acting on a lead about stolen property and a possible
marijuana grow-op when the suspect, armed with a high-powered rifle,
confronted them. Gunfire broke out among four officers and the suspect
inside a storage shed, where the bodies -- including that of the suspect --
were discovered.

Three of the dead officers were stationed at the Mayerthorpe detachment,
about 130 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, and the fourth was based just
to the northwest, at Whitecourt.

No names were officially released pending notification of relatives.
However, direct family members confirmed that two of the dead were
Constable Leo Johnston, 33, and Constable Brock Myrol, 27. All four slain
Mounties had less than five years of service.

As word of the deaths spread, police officers and relatives rushed to the
single-storey brown-brick RCMP detachment in Mayerthorpe. Some sobbed.
Others carried food and coffee. Some people placed flowers at the base of
the flagpole. At times tensions ran high, and one unidentified man punched
a television cameraman in the face. He apologized later.

Condolences poured in from across the country last night, from police and
politicians alike.

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

With eyes watering, retired RCMP officer Mike Stantyk put four roses in
front of the detachment. He didn't know the officers, he said, but he knew
the man who shot them.

That man was identified by relatives and police sources as Jim Roszko, 46.

He had a history of run-ins with the law and spent time in and out of
prison, according to his father, Bill Roszko. The elder Mr. Roszko hadn't
spoken to his son in nine years.

Jim Roszko was found dead at the scene. Police would not confirm the cause
of death.

His body was located in a Quonset hut, a half-moon shaped aluminum storage
building, on his farm just north of the hamlet of Rochfort Bridge, along
with those of the slain officers.

Police provided few details last night about the circumstances leading to
the tragedy, but the altercation began after Mounties received a tip
Wednesday afternoon about stolen property and a possible marijuana grow
operation at a location north of Rochfort Bridge. The hamlet is barely a
speck on a map on Highway 43 northwest of Edmonton, and is home to 65 people.

Two officers were dispatched to the scene Wednesday night and entered the
Quonset, where they remained overnight.

At some point later that evening neighbours reported seeing police pursuing
Jim Roszko, who raced at high speed along dirt roads in a white pickup truck.

By 10 a.m. yesterday, four more officers had arrived at the scene. Two
entered the Quonset and two kept guard outside, police said. About this
time, "gunfire erupted," according to RCMP Corporal Wayne Oakes.

The suspect, he said, had a high-powered rifle. One of the slain police
officers fired a single round shortly after 10 a.m., police said, although
it is not known whether that shot injured or killed the suspect.

The area was cordoned off and air space closed. Tactical units from
Edmonton and Red Deer were summoned. So was the "immediate reaction unit"
at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton, with 20 members and armoured vehicles.

By 2:15 p.m., an air ambulance helicopter was hovering.

Police stationed on the perimeter said they were dealing with a "hostage
situation."

At 2:20 p.m., police officially moved in and found the bodies.

Mayerthorpe Mayor Albert Schalm said his farming community of nearly 1,600
is reeling from the tragedy.

"This is something that we see on the movies," he said. "We don't see this
here. To have something of this magnitude happen here, we're just shocked."
He added that the town's "thoughts and prayers" are with the family members
of the slain officers.

Alberta Solicitor-General Harvey Cenaiko, who is a former Calgary police
officer, also spoke out against grow-ops.

"It goes to the seriousness of the fact that organized crime, illegal
cultivation of marijuana . . . is all around us, including in a small town
like Mayerthorpe," he told reporters.

Pastor Arnold Lotholz of the Pentecostal Assembly of Mayerthorpe, who is
also the director of disaster services for the town, said area residents
were taking the news very hard, but none more so than those who work at the
RCMP detachment.

"It is a close-knit community, so the detachment members are taking it very
hard, of course, because they're friends."

Anne McLellan, the Deputy Prime Minister and Public Safety Minister, also
offered her sympathies to the families of the slain officers.

She promised that Ottawa would consider toughening laws against grow-ops,
calling them a rapidly expanding organized-crime threat. Without providing
details, she said the government would consider changes to a bill before
the Commons to decriminalize marijuana, which includes stiffer penalties
for grow operations.

RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli expressed hope the incident will
encourage Canadians to reconsider their views on marijuana.

"Hopefully this type of a tragedy will make us review and rethink and
reflect and bring a perspective to some of these issues as Canadians," he said.

"Drugs are illegal and they're extremely dangerous and people have to
understand that. And when you have people who are promoting the issue of
safe drugs or [that] there are harmless drugs, I think that is something
that we better understand is not the right way to go. We don't solve
anything in society by legalizing things or by pretending they're not
harmful to society."