4 RCMP officers killed!

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - 4 RCMP officers killed!

Posted: 3/3/2005 1:40:47 PM EDT

Just heard on the news that 4 officers have possibly been wounded during a raid on a marijuna grow operation in Alberta.
The RCMP have been unable to eastablish contact with the 4 officers via radio and shots have been fired.
Can't find a link online yet but will post when I do.

ROCHFORT BRIDGE, Alta. (CP) - Four RCMP officers were killed during a raid on a marijuana grow operation in northwestern Alberta on Thursday, a government source told The Canadian Press.

There had been confusion all day about the fate of the officers after the first reports that shots were fired during the raid near Rochfort Bridge, a village of about 60 people. Solicitor General Harvey Cenaiko had told reporters four officers were not responding to their radios and referred to "a very serious situation."

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Wayne Oakes confirmed that the officers were conducting an investigation at a rural residence. He said there was reason to believe a lone male suspect was armed with a high-powered rifle.

Oakes did not release any more information at the time, saying RCMP did not want to jeopardize the safety of their officers.

Another news conference was scheduled for later Thursday afternoon.

The lack of information earlier in the day led to were conflicting reports initially about what happened.

Sgt. Rick Oncescu of the Calgary RCMP said two SWAT teams were called into the area and Mounties from surrounding jurisdictions also responded.

Maj. Scott Lundy, a spokesman for Edmonton Garrison, said the military received a request just after 12:30 p.m. from the RCMP for assistance. He said two armoured personnel carriers, an ambulance and about 20 military personnel were dispatched from the military base shortly after that.

About two hours later, police told the military their help was no longer needed.

"I have confirmed we have been stood down," he said.

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein would not comment on the specifics, but said he was surprised and saddened that such a tragedy would occur in the quiet farming community, about 130 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

"I would hope that it would serve as a lesson for all those who want to enter into something illegal not to do so," he said.

sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1109878667829_105287867?hub=topstories

Posted: 3/3/2005 2:09:16 PM EDT

[#1]

Tag

~~<Hoping for the best>~~

ETA: Four.

Prayers to the families.

Posted: 3/3/2005 2:14:37 PM EDT

[#2]

Still can't find anything online but the news on TV said they requested back up from the military who dispatched 2 APC's and 20 soldiers. However the backup was called off as the situation was under control. They had a life flight chopper and 2 ambulances standing by.

Posted: 3/3/2005 3:37:36 PM EDT

[#3]

updated. Damn....

Posted: 3/3/2005 4:10:50 PM EDT

[#4]

Thats horrible, DAMN what an F'n waste kill four people over some stupid pot plants.I hope the POS died a slow painful death.

Really sorry to hear this guys.

Posted: 3/3/2005 4:16:47 PM EDT

[#5]

My condolences to the coworkers and families of the fallen MOS....

Posted: 3/3/2005 4:18:11 PM EDT

[#6]

I've got to check family contacts, as there is relative up that way in the drug squad...

Posted: 3/3/2005 4:25:41 PM EDT

[#7]

Posted: 3/3/2005 4:26:33 PM EDT

[#8]

prayers sent.
Art in KY

Posted: 3/3/2005 4:28:53 PM EDT

[#9]

According to the news video in the link, gunman (Jim Roscoe) took himself out afterward. 1 of 9 kids, in trouble in the past for sex crimes. His own father called him the devil.

Posted: 3/3/2005 4:29:15 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
I hope the POS died a slow painful death.

No such luck. He killed himself.

Posted: 3/3/2005 4:31:51 PM EDT

[#11]

Prayers sent

.

And to think some still feel Marijuana is not a bad thing..........

.

Posted: 3/3/2005 4:32:36 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
I've got to check family contacts, as there is relative up that way in the drug squad...

Not my relative, he's still assigned to a BC detatchment.

Posted: 3/3/2005 4:33:43 PM EDT

[#13]

Posted: 3/3/2005 4:41:07 PM EDT

[#14]

Rest in peace brothers. My thoughts and prayers are with your families.

Posted: 3/3/2005 5:31:52 PM EDT

[#15]

Lest We Forget.

Posted: 3/3/2005 6:04:51 PM EDT

[#16]

Sad that the officers died, though I am glad to see that cops were actually at a real crime instead of camped out on the Yellowhead and Whitemud with laser and photo radar......

Wish they hadn't been shot up though

Posted: 3/3/2005 8:34:12 PM EDT

[#17]

damn....

Posted: 3/3/2005 8:35:55 PM EDT

[#18]

Prayers inbound!

Posted: 3/3/2005 10:43:55 PM EDT

[#19]

R.I.P. x 4

Posted: 3/3/2005 10:44:50 PM EDT

[#20]

Posted: 3/4/2005 12:23:53 AM EDT

[#21]

Any names yet?
I have worked with the Edmonton Garrison office on international extraditions.
Man, this sucks.

Posted: 3/4/2005 12:41:45 AM EDT

[#22]

we have a house in calgary....i know many a rcmp officer...

be safe

Posted: 3/4/2005 6:00:29 AM EDT

[#23]

J

Posted: 3/4/2005 7:03:15 AM EDT

[#24]

Condolence's can be sent at this link!
All these officers where young fairly new members of the force. One had 3 weeks on the job.
Reports state they where armed with their duty sidearms. The suspect was armed with a rifle. The media spin has started with the semi-auto assault rifle bs already!

Posted: 3/4/2005 7:06:54 AM EDT

[#25]

Canadians mourn the slaying of four Mounties
CTV.ca News Staff

Flags are flying at half mast at RCMP detachments across the country in remembrance of the four Mounties who were killed in the line of duty in Alberta on Thursday.

Canadians mourning the shooting deaths of the four, killed at a marijuana grow operation, will follow Prime Minister Paul Martin's lead on Friday when he calls for a moment of silence.

Not since the Northwest Rebellion of 1885 have so many members of Canada's national police force been killed in a single day.

At approximately 10 a.m. MT Thursday, a shootout broke out between police and a male suspect at a farmhouse in Rochfort Bridge near the community of Mayerthorpe, about 130 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

When other Mounties arrived on the scene, they found four officers and the gunman dead, reportedly having killed himself. CTV's Todd Battis reports that the gunman is believed to have used a semi-automatic assault rifle.

"It is with profound sadness that I confirm that four members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were killed today in service to our country," RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli said Thursday night in Ottawa.

"It is an unprecedented and unspeakable loss."

The RCMP did not plan a news conference for Friday. Questions are being raised about whether a proper threat assessment was made before the officers conducted the raid.

On Thursday Zaccardelli said all proper procedures were followed but that policing is never without risk. According to the Toronto Star, the officers were wearing soft-body armour and carrying handguns.

But Tony Cannavino, president of the Canadian Professional Police Association, said the killings send a message that its the legislation that needs to change.

"It sends again a message that there's no deterrent effect on grow-ops. That's why we lobby the government, we ask them for stronger laws," he said, appearing on CTV's Canada AM.

Gunman a 'walking time bomb'

Friends and family have identified the gunman as Jim Roszko, whose father Bill described as "a wicked devil" who had a lifetime hatred of police.

Bill Roszko said Jim had an angry streak as far back as he can remember: "Because of the drugs, you know, and the bad company with bad boys . . . dragged him off the good tracks," he told CTV's Edmonton affiliate CFRN.

"I don't want to have him as my son for what he was like and the way things ended up. He is not my son," Roszko told CFRN.

His sister Josephine, who identified his body, said he wasn't the monster others believed him to be.

"He had a good heart and he never hurt us in any way," she told CFRN.

CFRN reports Jim Roszko was the youngest in a large family, and that his troubled life led others in the family to stay away from him.

Reporting from the scene Thursday night, CTV's Sarah Galashan said others in the town described Roszko as a "walking time bomb."

Devastating loss

Although the RCMP has not released the names of the deceased officers, CTV's Battis reported that Const. Brock Myrol was one of the officers gunned down.

The Star reported that the 29-year-old's first day on the job was this past Valentine's Day and he and his fiancee Anjila had just moved to the town.

In a recent interview, Myrol told a local paper that he joined the RCMP because "I wanted the opportunity to work with people and make a difference."

"He had been a security guard for some time and decided that he would join the RCMP because he wanted to get a greater sense of working with the community, and he was really enjoying his work in the short amount of time that he was on the job," Battis reported from the scene.

"We know that he got into the RCMP and that was the thrill of his lifetime," he said.

Another one of the dead officers was an ace marksman, reports say.

Sharpshooter Const. Leo Johnston entered the service four years ago with his twin brother.

Sweeney confirmed that three of the officers were based in Mayerthorpe, and one was from Whitecourt, Alberta. They were all junior members of the force.

Farm was under surveillance

The operation began Wednesday afternoon, when officers from the local Mayerthorpe detachment placed the farmyard under surveillance.

Two officers remained at the farm overnight, and they were joined by backup Thursday morning.

The occupant of the farm had not been there overnight, but at some point he had returned.

Officers remaining on the road heard gunshots and took cover, and at least one of them 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 find the four dead officers.

Sgt. Rick Oncescu of the Calgary RCMP said two SWAT teams were called into the area, and Mounties from surrounding jurisdictions also went to the scene.

The military received a request just after 12:30 p.m. from the RCMP for assistance, said spokesman for Edmonton Garrison Maj. Scott Lundy.

Two armoured personnel carriers, an ambulance and about 20 military personnel were dispatched from the military base, but about two hours later, police told the military their help was no longer needed.

With files from CTV's Sarah Galashan and The Canadian Press

Posted: 3/4/2005 7:32:34 AM EDT

[#26]

Prayers and Condolences inbound to the family's of those who so valiantly stood watch to protect

Posted: 3/4/2005 6:27:30 PM EDT

[#27]

In the Line of Duty thread updated.

Posted: 3/4/2005 7:44:11 PM EDT

[#28]

Prayers for the Families!!!

Posted: 3/4/2005 9:39:53 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:
In the Line of Duty thread updated.

Another sad day for all of us, Striker.

RIP brothers....

Posted: 3/7/2005 9:39:20 PM EDT

[#30]

prayers for the family

Posted: 3/16/2005 5:50:19 PM EDT

[#31]

CTV.ca News Staff

The man who shot and killed four Mounties on his Alberta farm was armed with three guns that he hid under a white sheet when he crept onto his farm, according to an Edmonton radio station.

CHED Radio quoted police sources as saying James Roszko used the white sheet to camouflage against the snow when he furtively crept onto his farm near Mayerthorpe on March 3, unnoticed by the officers who were keeping guard.

Roszko was reportedly armed with a military-style assault rifle, a hunting rifle and a pistol. CHED also reported that officers found a hidden compartment under a dirt floor. It's not clear if Roszko kept his arms there.

According to the station, Roszko wore socks over his boots to cover his tracks and to muffle sound.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Wayne Oakes would not comment on the report.

"I cannot confirm or deny a single content of that media story," he said.

"Absolutely none of that came through my office. I have no idea as to the source of that."

However, he told the National Post that the RCMP may release information outlining new information and a detailed chronology at an official press conference on Wednesday.

The station reported that Roszko was struck four times by return fire -- two bullets in the groin area, another bullet hit the pistol he tucked in his trousers. A fourth bullet reportedly hit the stock of the assault rifle he used to fire at the RCMP officers.

The Post reported that two other officers from the Auto Theft Unit were on the scene in addition to the four Mounties at the time of the shootings.

They went to their vehicles to put on coveralls when they heard shots fired, killing RCMP constables Peter Schiemann, 25, Leo Johnston, 32, Anthony Gordon, 28, and Brock Myrol, 29.

According to the Post, it is believed that Schiemann, one of the more senior Mounties, was unarmed and not wearing a uniform because he was mentoring Myrol, a new recruit, on the fateful day.

When Roszko saw the auto theft officers, he fired at them and one returned fire.

The two officers called for backup and waited outside. It is believed that Roszko took his own life during this time.

When the Emergency Response Team arrived onto the scene, they sent a robot into the hut with a remote camera, followed by armoured officers who confirmed the slayings.

A former friend of Roszko told The Canadian Press that the report wasn't surprising.

"It sounds like him," said Reco Fast, who added his friendship with Roszko came to an end about six years ago.

"He was always like that. If he was going to do something, he did it right the first time. He never left no room for error."

With files from The Canadian Press

He was prohibited from owning firearms from a previous conviction.
I hope all the supporters of our gun control law that said it would prevent murders like this rot in hell.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - 4 RCMP officers killed!

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