RCMP Arrest Two In Connection To Mountie Slayings

RCMP Arrest Two In Connection To Mountie Slayings

Monday, July 09, 2007 at 13:37

 

 

Alberta R-C-M-P have charged two men with four counts of first degree murder each in connection with the fatal shootings of four Mounties near Mayerthorpe in 2005.

 

Deputy Commissioner Bill Sweeney says the two men are accused of being a party to what he called the “darkest day in R-C-M-P history.”

 

Gunman James Roszko ambushed the young Mounties on March 3rd, 2005, in the R-C-M-P’s greatest loss of life in a single day in more than 100 years.

 

Roszko, a virulent cop hater, later shot himself.

 

R-C-M-P says two men are accused of helping Roszko, but won’t say how.

 

Meantime, first-degree murder charges against two men in the fatal shootings of four R-C-M-P officers in Mayerthorpe could delay a fatality inquiry into what happened for a number of years.

 

It depends on how long court proceedings take.

 

Alberta Justice spokesman David Dear says the department would like to move forward, but can’t risk influencing the outcome of the criminal case.

 

Meanwhile, a fight is brewing over a plan to move the grave of one of four Mounties gunned down at Mayerthorpe from Alberta to an R-C-M-P cemetery in Regina.

 

Constable Leo Johnston is buried in Lac La Biche near the family home.

 

His mother, Grace Johnston, says her son’s widow, Kelly, has applied to have the body disinterred and moved to a cemetery at the R-C-M-P training depot in Saskatchewan.

 

Johnston says people in the community north of Edmonton are talking about holding a rally at the Lac La Biche cemetery against moving the body, which is supposed to be disinterred Wednesday.

 

Courtesy of Broadcast News.