Mayerthorpe tragedy
The Mayerthorpe Incident occurred on March 3, 2005 on the property of James Roszko in Rochfort Bridge, northwest of Edmonton near the town of Mayerthorpe, in the Canadian province of Alberta. With a Heckler & Koch 91, a civilian version of a military assault rifle, Roszko shot and killed Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constables Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon, Lionide Johnston, and Brock Myrol as the officers were executing a property seizure on the farm. This was the greatest one-day loss of life for the RCMP in 120 years. On February 10, 2008 CTV will air a feature length made-for-TV movie called "Mayerthorpe" [1].
The incident
Other officers initially went to the farm to assist bailiffs in trying to repossess a truck but Roszko fled in it. Numerous stolen vehicle parts and a marijuana grow-op were found on the premises. Search warrants were obtained and executed. Constables Gordon and Johnston were providing scene security. Cst. Schiemann arrived to drop off Cst. Myrol. The four officers were ambushed inside a Quonset shed on the farm. Roszko had apparently returned to the property during the night and laid in wait for an opportunity.
After fatally shooting the four officers, Roszko emerged from the shed and fired on two other officers who had just arrived and were preparing to examine the vehicles on the property. The officers were not hit, and returned fire. Roszko, wounded during either the intitial exchange of gunfire or during the exchange with the two officers outside, then retreated into the shed.
After losing radio contact with the officers in the shed, RCMP Emergency Response Teams and an armoured vehicle from the Canadian Forces' Edmonton Garrison were called in, and the airspace over the property was closed. The four officers and Roszko were all found fatally shot; it has since been confirmed that Roszko killed all four officers, and then turned his weapon on himself.
One of the deceased officers, Constable Brock Warren Myrol, had graduated a month before from the RCMP Academy, Depot Division. He had been on duty only 17 days.
Aftermath
A memorial service for the slain officers was held in Edmonton on March 10, 2005 and televised nationally on CBC. Prime Minister Paul Martin and Governor General Adrienne Clarkson both spoke at the service. Many police officers from Canada and the United States were in attendance.
On May 19, 2005, Queen Elizabeth II, attended a ceremony in honour of the slain officers at the RCMP Training Academy in Regina, Saskatchewan.
The CBC program the fifth estate also made a documentary about the incident, which first aired on December 7, 2005. The full documentary can be downloaded from the CBC website (see links below).
A by-product of the massacre was the halt to marijuana decriminalization legislation in the Canadian Parliament. Only days before the massacre, the leader of the Marijuana Party endorsed the Liberal Party after the government introduced a bill to decriminalize use and possession of marijuana. In the wake of the tragedy, the Liberals shelved the bill, and it was predicted that no action would take place for at least a year. Before a year had elapsed, Martin's government was defeated and the Conservative Party, which opposed decriminalization, was elected. Many media commentators suggested the massacre was an argument against marijuana decriminalization; some others argued the incident only occurred because the officers were on a drug raid. As the details of Roszko's violent history and hatred for the police became apparent, these arguments generally faded from the public discourse.
The Fallen Four Memorial Society was founded to honour the slain policemen. The group intends to create the Fallen Four Memorial Park in Mayerthorpe, but its opening is not expected until at least mid-2008 due to limited amounts of funding and donations as of February 2007.
James Roszko
James Roszko (1959? - March 3, 2005) was a Canadian man who at the time of the massacre was operating a hydroponic marijuana grow-op in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta. According to documents obtained by the CBC's the fifth estate in a court case to have the search warrants made public, police seized seven growing marijuana plants, and 88 harvested plants from the residence, plus a further 192 growing marijuana plants along with growing equipment from the quonset. Roszko was also suspected of various property crimes, which were the main thrust of the investigation prior to the shooting. He had a history of violent and sexual offences. At the time of the incident he was prohibited from legally possessing firearms. He was well-known as a police-hater in the community.
Police also found lists containing the names and call signs of RCMP officers from the detachments in Mayerthorpe, Whitecourt and Evansburg, Alberta. The lists also contained the cellular numbers assigned to their vehicles.
Also found were a .308 calibre Heckler & Koch 91 semi-automatic rifle, and a 300 Magnum which had been reported missing, and a 9 mm Beretta. The .308 and the 9 mm were not registered.
Roszko was said to have had a history of criminal and drug-related offences, and members of the nearby Mayerthorpe community interviewed in a CBC story the day following the incident described him as a 'dangerous recluse'.
Charges are laid in 2007
On July 9, 2007, two men, Shawn Hennessey, 28, and Dennis Cheeseman, 23, were charged as parties to the offences committed by James Roszko. In 2006, Mr. Hennessy denied any links to the crime. The RCMP spent more than $2-million investigating the incident, using between 40 and 200 officers on the case since 2005. The charges were the result of an undercover investigation. The two accused will appeared in court on July 12. [2][3] The murder charges against Mr. Hennessey and Cheeseman are controversial due to the fact neither man was present at the crime scene of the incident.
Notes
External links
- CBC News: Records of RCMP shooter paint chilling picture
- CBC News: Suspect in RCMP killings had history of run-ins with police
- CBC News: Indepth: RCMP
- CBC the fifth estate documentary "A Hail of Bullets"
- Fallen Four Society (memorial group)
- To Serve and Protect: Tragedy at Mayerthorpe at IMDb - docudrama about the incident