Pubdate: Fri, 04 Mar 2005 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2005 Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Authors: Florence Loyie and Mike Sadava, CanWest News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Rochfort+Bridge (Rochfort Bridge) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) FOUR DEAD IN RCMP'S DEADLIEST DAY IN CENTURY Gunman With High-Powered Rifle Surprises Officers MAYERTHORPE, Alta. - Four RCMP officers were killed yesterday investigating a suspected marijuana growing operation at a farm near this community about 130 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. One of the slain officers was identified by a family friend as Constable Brock Myrol, 29, of Red Deer. Const. Myrol was on his first posting as a Mountie and had been in Mayerthorpe less than three weeks. The bloody encounter -- the deadliest for the force since the 1880s -- will spark a renewed debate about how best to deal with the massive proliferation of marijuana grow-ops, which the head of RCMP yesterday called a "plague." The four male officers -- three from the Mayerthorpe detachment and one from nearby Whitecourt -- were conducting an investigation at a farmhouse in Rochfort Bridge near Mayerthorpe yesterday morning when shots were fired by a gunman who apparently caught the officers by surprise. The gunman, who was armed with a high-powered rifle, also died at the scene. The officers and the shooter were not immediately identified and the exact causes of death were not revealed yesterday. The prime suspect is the owner of the farm, James Roszko, a 46-year-old with a lengthy criminal record and a reputation as a loner. He was known by neighbours to frequently shoot rifles on his property and occasionally in the direction of people. Mr. Roszko's father, who has not spoken to his son in a decade, called him "a wicked devil" yesterday. "He'd been bad for years. The police knew that," said the man's brother, George. "Man alive, this is horrible ... I just feel terrible for the police." Several people in town said there were rumours of Mr. Roszko hiding weapons on his property. He is also reputed to have put planks with spikes in his driveway. When scrutineers came in before the last provincial election, the spikes blew out their tires. Two of the dead officers were at the farmhouse overnight, guarding the scene in an investigation that also involved stolen property, said RCMP Corporal Wayne Oakes. The other two officers joined them in the morning. Other Mounties who were on the scene heard shots at 10 a.m. Cpl. Oakes said the slain officers were simply guarding the alleged crime scene and had no reason to believe they were in imminent danger. He said they would have been wearing their regular uniforms and bullet-proof vests and been carrying sidearms. He said at least one of the officers at the scene returned fire. RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli paid tribute to the four officers and called grow-ops a "plague" on Canadian society. "Today we recognize with gratitude and respect that four of our own paid the highest price to fight this fight," said a sombre Comm. Zaccardelli. The officers, he said, "went to work not knowing on this day they would be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice." Canada's top Mountie said he did not have many details yet on the raid in Mayerthorpe, but that he was confident that officers would have done "due diligence" and obtained the necessary resources they required for the operation. "But policing and these major operations are never without risk. This is the tragedy of what happened here." Comm. Zacardelli also warned about the danger of grow ops. "The issue of grow ops is not a ma and pa industry as we have been saying for a number of years," he said. "These are major, serious threats to our society, and they are major serious threats to the men and women on the frontline who have to deal with them. They are booby trapped. They are high risk issues and major organized organized crime, in many cases, is involved." He added: "This is a plague on our society now." Prime Minister Paul Martin released a statement saying Canadians are "shocked by this brutality, and join me in condemning the violent acts that brought about these deaths. "This terrible event is a reminder of the sacrifice and bravery of the men and women who serve in our national police force, and of the dangerous circumstances which they often confront, in order to make Canada a safer place." Anne McLellan, the Deputy Prime Minister, called the officers "four brave, selfless public servants." She said the work that officers do is dangerous and "some days they pay an enormous price." More than 100 officers were on the scene after the shootings yesterday, along with soldiers from the Canadian Armed Forces who provided three Bison armoured vehicles. Officers and soldiers dressed in bullet-proof vests and carrying high-powered rifles came and went from the operations base, many with tears in their eyes. Just after 2 p.m., officers stormed the building and found the bodies of the four officers and the suspect. "There are four dead," an officer said at the police operations base at a Canadian Legion Hall in Mayerthorpe as relatives of the deceased officers arrived mid-afternoon. One woman collapsed in tears after speaking with an officer, then got in her car and drove away. There was confusion throughout the day after Alberta Solicitor-General Harvey Cenaiko told reporters that officers were executing a search warrant when they were met with gunfire. The four officers had failed to respond to their radios after conducting the raid. Albert Schalm, the Mayor of Mayerthorpe, said: "I'm sick. I don't know what to tell you. It shocks me that this could even happen." In Whitecourt, Mayor Trevor Thain said: "The detachment is a great bunch of people and I'm sure I can't even begin to imagine how they feel right now." Mr. Thain said the Whitecourt detachment has about 15 officers while the Mayerthorpe detachment only has about three or four members. Those numbers don't include a highway patrol unit that is administered through the Whitecourt detachment. Roszko was described as a loner who lived in a trailer on the west side of the farm, and his mother lived in a home on the other side of the large farm. According to a local reporter, a combined RCMP-Edmonton police drug squad came to the farm on Monday morning and seized evidence. The officers who were shot were not part of the drug squad. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake