STONY PLAIN, Alta. - Up until the point when he gunned down four Alberta RCMP officers, James Roszko was viewed by Crown attorneys as more of a minor menace than a major threat.
The inquiry into the officers' deaths is hearing from senior Crown prosecutor Gordon Wong, who wrote a report on Roszko's criminal history after he killed the Mounties and then himself.
Wong says Roszko had property offences and minor assaults dating back to his teen years, but most of the cases were abandoned because witnesses refused to testify.
The one major conviction, a sexual assault on a young boy, caused justice staff to start building a file on Roszko.
But Wong says that file was nowhere near deep enough to seek a dangerous offender designation.
The fatality inquiry can't lay blame in the killings, which happened on Roszko's farm near Mayerthorpe in 2005, but it can make recommendations to help prevent future tragedies.
