(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

March 3, 2005

PODCAST: Mayerthorpe’s ‘Fallen Four’ remembered 20 years after tragic incident

Mar 2, 2025 | 6:55 AM

Heroes, right down to their core.

That’s the only way Keith Myrol wants his son and three other RCMP officers killed 20 years ago in Mayerthorpe, Alberta to continue to be remembered.

Brock Myrol, Anthony Gordon, Lionide ‘Leo’ Johnston and Peter Schiemann, all constables with the RCMP, were shot and killed on March 3, 2005. The culprit, one James Roszko, died by suicide in the immediate aftermath.

Brock Myrol was born in Outlook, SK, but was raised in Red Deer, including a stint as security at Bower Place Shopping Centre; Anthony Gordon was born in Edmonton and raised in Red Deer, also spending time with Whitecourt RCMP; Leo Johnston was born in Owl River, AB, first working in Lac La Biche; and Peter Schiemann was from Petrolia, ON, but was raised in Stony Plain, AB.

Keith, Myrol, who spoke with rdnewsNOW in January 2024 upon the unveiling of a new memorial statue in Red Deer, spoke in a new interview about what allows him to keep fighting for their memories to stay alive.

“[It’s the] love for my son that keeps me going, and knowing that yes, we lost four boys that day, but we’ve lost a lot of law enforcement over the years, and every one of them deserves to be remembered,” Myrol says.

“Canadians need to know and understand that yes, they’re Mounties, policemen or even soldiers, but first of all, they’re people. They gave it all. They had no more to give, that was it.”

While the Myrol family will hold a private get-together for the 20th anniversary this Monday, a public event is being held in Mayerthorpe, about 90 minutes northwest of Edmonton.

The event starts at 9:30 a.m. at Fallen Four Park (4602 Denny Hay Drive). RCMP Deputy Commissioner & Commanding Officer for K Division, Rob Hill, as well as RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme, will be in attendance.

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READ MORE: New statue in memory of fallen Mayerthorpe officers unveiled at Bower Place in Red Deer

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“[At Brock’s] RCMP graduation, they said that this kind of thing could happen, and obviously it did, but they also said to remember that you’re now part of the greater family. The RCMP have done, over the years, many things to support us, even just in conversations,” Myrol shares.

“For other families, we’ve reached out to them since Brock’s murder, and other police families who’ve lost members of their family; and that’s what you do, you form a union with other people and help support them.”

Myrol says the hurt and the missing never goes away.

“Not in our lifetime. You’ll remember your son the rest of your life, but you can certainly hep other people get with what they’re going through.”

(Supplied)

One way Myrol, a musician, helped himself, and likely many others, was through song.

It was one year after the killings that Keith, along with daughter Kalhanie, released a song called Heroes. It played March 3, 2006, on radio stations nationwide.

Copies of a compilation CD, which included that track, went to support various causes, including Fallen Four Park in Mayerthorpe, an RCMP museum in Regina, and a trip to nationals for members at Red Deer’s Arashi-Do Martial Arts, where Brock was a black belt.

This weekend, ahead of Monday’s anniversary, free memorial pins are available at Bower Place Shopping Centre, where the statue is located in the food court. There will also be a memorial of flowers at the monument.