Roszko walked casually after killing Mounties

James Roszko casually walked out of a large Quonset hut after gunning down four RCMP officers,now-retired corporal Stephen Vigor told an Albertafatalityinquiry Friday.

The inquiry at the Stony Plain courthouse is looking into Roszkos ambush and murder of RCMP constables Anthony Gordon, Leo Johnston, Brock Myrol and Peter Schiemann on Roszko'sproperty near Mayerthorpe on March 3, 2005.

Roszko seemedsurprised to see him,Vigor testified.Roszko shot at him, but missedand hit a police vehicle.

Vigor returned fire, getting offtwo shots. Roszko "staggered back into the Quonset," he said.

At the time, Vigorthought he had missed Roszko, but later learnedhehit him in the thigh and wrist before Roszko eventually killed himself.

Vigor was a member of theRCMP auto-theft unit when he was called toinvestigate Roszko's farm,where stolen vehicles had been found on March 2.He was toldthere was no urgency.

"Due to the non-urgency the lighting conditions, etc. it was decided we should go up first thing in the morning," he said.

Carried sidearm

He and partner Const. Garrett Hoogestraat arrived at the farmat9:56 a.m., he told the inquiry. He had his sidearm with him.

As they pulled up they sawfour officers, twoon a roof and two on the ground, near the Quonset. Hoogestraat spoke with those officers while Vigor pulled out coveralls to beginwork on the stolen vehicles.

Hoogestraat returned to the vehicle asthe fourofficers entered the building, where there was a marijuana grow-op, he said. Then theyheard loud bangs, like a mallet, Vigor said.

After "half a dozen to eight more loud bangs, I came to the realization at that point they were gunshots."

He then heard yelling from the building. Vigor grabbed his gun when he saw Roszko "casually walking" out, he said.

Moments after beingshot by Vigor, Roszkoshot and killed himself.

"My guess is that he had been watching," said Vigor. "He knew that there were four members on scene. So when the initial confrontation occurred, he wasn't expecting to see us [Vigor and Hoogestraat]."

Rescue too risky

Vigor was asked aboutthe possibility of rescuing the downed officers from the Quonset.The risk was initially too great, he saidstruggling to control his emotions.

"I felt that this wasn't going to be a rescue attempt," he said. "It was going to be a recovery attempt."

After his testimony Vigor spoke with reporters about the ambush.

"There's nothing we could have done differently, in my opinion," he said. "Thats the type of situation that goes on dozens of times each week in Alberta."

"The only difference was James Roszko came back with the intent to murder police officers."

Vigor was askedabout shootingRoszko.

"Im not proud of the fact I had to kill someone, but Im proud of the fact that I stopped him and stopped him from taking more lives."

The inquiry is scheduled to rununtil Feb. 1. Public hearings held under the Alberta Fatality Inquiries Act are limited to establishing the cause, manner, time, place and circumstances of death, as well as the identity of the deceased, police said.

The judge may make recommendations to prevent similar occurrences but is prohibited, under the act, from making findings of legal responsibility.