Posted on 03/04/2005 5:08:52 PM PST by Thebaddog
TORONTO (AP) - A bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" and flags flew at half-staff Friday as Canadians grappled with the deadliest attack on police officers in 120 years, after four Mounties were slain during a raid on a marijuana farm in a rural western hamlet. The slayings stunned a nation that prides itself on far fewer acts of gun violence than its neighbor to the south.
"Canadians are shocked by this brutality and join me in condemning the violent acts that brought about these deaths," Prime Minister Paul Martin said. He has called for a moment of silence before opening his Liberal Party's annual conference later Friday.
The four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers had been investigating a farm in Mayerthorpe, a small hamlet of some 1,300 people in western Alberta province.
Spokesman Cpl. Wayne Oakes said the four Mounties and the suspected gunman were found in a Quonset hut on the farm late Thursday. A government source told The Canadian Press the suspect killed himself after shooting the officers.
"The loss of four police officers is unprecedented in recent history," said Bill Sweeney, commanding officer of the Mounties in Alberta. "I'm told you have to go back to about 1885 ... during the Northwest Rebellion to have a loss of this magnitude."
The Northwest Rebellion was an unsuccessful attempt by indigenous rebels to establish an independent nation in the northwestern frontier.
The Mounties, with their bright red tunics and broad-brimmed Stetsons, are as much a national symbol as a police force. Legend has it that the small Northwest Mounted Police, formed in 1873 to bring order to the Canadian west, wore their scarlet tunics so natives could readily distinguish them from the blue-coated U.S. cavalry.
The suspect was identified by police as 46-year-old James Roszko. Authorities said he had a long criminal record, including the use of illegal firearms and sexual assault.
Oakes said the Mounties were investigating reports of stolen property and marijuana on Roszko's property.
Sgt. Rick Oncescu said two SWAT teams were called into the area and Mounties from surrounding jurisdictions also responded when the four officers did not respond to radio calls Thursday afternoon.
A woman played "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes as children laid flowers Friday at the flagpole in front of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters in Mayerthorpe.
Tracy Eisert, who used to serve the slain Mounties at the local Burger Baron, wept as she carried flowers. "I served these gentlemen where I work and I wanted to say thank you," she said.
"This is something that happens in Hollywood, but it never happens here," Albert Schalm, the town's mayor, told CBC TV. "I think it will change the community. It will just make everybody more aware that there are drug problems, even out here in rural Canada."
As documentary filmmaker Michael Moore pointed out in "Bowling for Columbine," there are few reasons to lock your doors across this vast nation.
There were 152 homicides by firearms in Canada in 2002, according to federal statistics, compared with 11,829 homicides by guns in the United States for that same year.
A 1995 federal firearms law in Canada requires every firearm in the country be registered and each gun owner licensed.
But Canada is grappling with an increase in organized crime behind the multibillion-dollar marijuana industry.
"It is an unprecedented and unspeakable loss," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli said in a statement. "We know that these are the most serious challenges, made complicated by the involvement of organized crime, the availability of weapons and the risks posed by individuals who choose the path of violence and destruction over peace and good."
The officers were armed only with handguns. Some have asked why they did not have better backup and how all four could have been killed by a single gunman.
Police identified the four Mounties as Peter Christopher Schiemann, Anthony Fitzgerald Orion Gordon, Lionide Nicholas Johnston and Brock Warren Myrol.
Myrol, 29, had been on the job for only two weeks.
"He loved the RCMP and all it stood for," his family said in a statement. "Our country is hurting. We have lost four dedicated citizens who were willing to do something about it."
AP-ES-03-04-05 1833EST
they are
We will always do what we can and you are welcome.
"Of course, I reserve the right to offer constructive criticism, but here will offer nothing but condolences and prayers. "
I expect constructive criticism. I also give constructive criticism.
We appreciate and are thankful for all expressions of support. Thank you.
They should call in the FARC and offer them a 10,000 square mile 'safe haven', I mean it worked so well for Colombia... LOL
Voice that opinion at the training academy in Regina.
Thanks for the info...the beauty of discussion boards.
I remember a bully situation in the lower 50 where the townspeople did away with the turkey, and no one saw anything. :). I can't remember which state, however.
i think it's the frenchies and urbanites on the rear end of the country that run it!
quebec, montreal, etc.
That would indeed be interesting. LOL
Alberta and Saskatchewan are very much like that. In fact Alberta is considered the Texas of the north. I'm not sure how much of a compliment that is.....to either Alberta or Texas. :)
I am sorry some of my fellow "conservatives" are so insensitive to this tragety. I guess they think because one man insulted us by refusing missle defense it makes all Canadians a**holes. I do not feel that way. My condolences to the families and friends of these officers. Good day and God speed.
four policemen are a rather small amount. odd if this is the biggest in a hundred twenty years.
the canadians of the west that i meet in california and arizona are very nice.
i pick up conversations with them immediately.
i grew up in rural colorado and nebraska, and these canadians have no problem talking with me, nor i, them.
interesting that there are drug producing/trafficking countries on both borders.
Thanks for the reply. I think most of us up here understand where most Americans stand and appreciate their thoughts. BTW the BMD issue is a bit more complex than you might think.
What is even more interesting is that the US does not produce drugs. Tell us you accomplished that.
Sounds like someone who should have been in jail.
"I guess the pot heads weren't to mellow."
just one o' them easy-goin' fabulous furry freak brothers.
Keep on truckin', don't let your boogie ooze.
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