STONY PLAIN, Alta. - In a courtroom full of lawyers at the inquiry into the killing of four Alberta Mounties, it fell to frail, grey-haired Grace Johnston -- mother to murdered Leo -- to shuffle to the podium, stand alone, and explore the key questions about what went wrong.
Johnston was questioning an RCMP officer who was on scene the morning of March 3, 2005, near Mayerthorpe, when the four constables were gunned down inside a Quonset hut by James Roszko.
She got Garrett Hoogestraat to confirm that for a brief time the four Mounties stopped guarding the shed and couldn't even see the front doors -- the perfect opportunity for Roszko to dash inside undetected and wait to launch his ambush.
"So the continuity (of surveillance) was broken in that time frame at the Quonset hut or the areas around the Quonset hut," Johnston said to Hoogestraat.
"That's correct," he said.
"Thank you very much," Johnston replied.
The exchange was emblematic of a hearing that, in its first week, has focused intensely on the who, what, when, and where, but so far appears content to nip gently at the periphery of the how and why.
Fatality inquiries are mandatory in such tragedies in Alberta. Provincial court Judge Daniel Pahl has heard and will continue to hear about the circumstances that led to the deaths of Peter Schiemann, Brock Myrol, Leo Johnston and Anthony Gordon. He can make recommendations on how to keep people safe in the future, but cannot assign blame.
Two weeks have been set aside for the inquiry. It continues Monday.
The day before the shootings, the RCMP were helping bailiffs seize Roszko's truck when he fled the scene. A stolen car parts operation and a pot farm were found on the property and an investigation was launched.
One of the seminal questions for the RCMP, and one of the enduring mysteries of Mayerthorpe, has been: How did Roszko manage to breach the RCMP security perimeter to kill?
Sgt. Jim Martin and Sgt. Brian Pinder, the men in charge of the Mayerthorpe detachment in 2005, testified this week they knew Roszko was a risk and had a violent past.
To be safe, they decided to leave not one but two experienced officers on scene at Roszko's property to guard the continuity of the evidence in the Quonset and catch Roszko if he should return.
Martin put Johnston and Gordon in two marked vehicles around the Quonset. He told them to keep as many lights on as possible to announce the police presence and discourage Roszko from coming back.
In the morning, Myrol arrived around 9:30 to help out. He was driven by Schiemann, who was the only one not in uniform. He was in jeans and a jacket and going to Edmonton to buy supplies for the detachment.
Hoogestraat and his partner, Stephen Vigor, said they arrived about 25 minutes later -- just minutes before the attack -- to examine the stolen car parts in the Quonset. Both said they saw all four Mounties at the back of the massive semi-circular metal structure, sedating Roszko's vicious dogs with drugged meat.
The officers' view of the front of the hut appeared to be obscured, but that hasn't been established clearly at the hearing.
Crown lawyer Alan Meikle didn't ask Hoogestraat and Vigor about that.
How long were the officers with the dogs, and the front of the shed exposed? Also not asked of the two.
Earlier in the week, Meikle asked Martin and Pinder about specific orders given to Johnston and Gordon that night, but they were not asked about general procedures on guarding crime scenes.
Was there a policy, written or unwritten? Not asked so far.
Why did all four leave the front of the hut? Is that common? Not asked of the officers.
With four men of equal rank on scene, who was in charge? Anyone? The senior one? The one coming on shift? Not asked of them either.
The only insight on guarding came from Vigor, when asked by a lawyer representing the RCMP what kind of qualifications are needed to guard a scene.
"Just being a police officer qualifies you right there," he said. "There are no qualifications for guarding a scene. It's experience you gain over the course of your career."
On Friday, Supt. Brian McLeod, who led the tactical team that day, said he was told that bear spray, a white sheet, pillow case, gloves and water belonging to Roszko were found to the northeast of the Quonset, right in front and off to the side of the garage-sized front door. It seemed that had been Roszko's stake-out spot.
But how far away were those supplies from the Quonset? McLeod wasn't asked.
Was Roszko close enough to the structure that he could dash in within seconds? A minute? From that vantage point could he see the four officers behind the Quonset? Again, not asked of him.
Other peripheral issues connected to RCMP safety have been left unexplored to this point.
Court heard that Mayerthorpe police felt Johnston and Gordon should have night vision goggles while on guard. But the goggles, which were in nearby Evansburg, never arrived because the officer in that detachment was alone and busy and couldn't deliver.
In answer to a question from Don Schiemann, father to Peter, drug officer Sgt. Lorne Adamitz suggested he might have spaced the sentry cruisers farther apart to get a better view of Roszko's home and acreage.
So might there be a better way to deploy cars, better ways in future to secure a sprawling acreage with just two officers? Not explored to this point.
RCMP officers stated on the stand that all officers performed their duties by the book. The Mayerthorpe tragedy, they say, begins and ends with Roszko and the men who have already admitted they gave him a ride back to the farm the night before the shooting -- Shawn Hennessey and Dennis Cheeseman.
One or both of Hennessey's parents have been at the hearing every day, but don't have the standing to ask questions. They were there last Tuesday when Martin testified that only a warning by Hennessey and Cheeseman that Roszko was back on the farm would have saved the officers.
"I would have pulled all my members out of the area and called in the emergency response (tactical) team," said Martin.
Outside court, Barry Hennessey, the father, could not contain his anger, railing against an inquiry he suggested exists in a world of greys but is determined to reduce this tragedy to those in white hats and those in black.
RCMP "blame two young fellas for Roszko making his way back onto the property," he said. "To stand there the whole day and give testimony and not see any moral culpability is very blind."
