[JURIST] The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) [official website] have charged two men with murder [press release; Q&A] for their role in the 2005 shooting deaths of four Mounties in an Alberta ambush [JURIST report; Wikipedia backgrounder], the highest death toll suffered by Canada's national police force in over 100 years. Dennis Keegan Rodney Cheeseman and Sean William Hennesey are not believed to have been present for the shootings, but the Criminal Code of Canada [text] allows people to be charged as parties to an offense if they reasonably should have known that commission of the offense was a probable consequence of uniting with an offender in a common illegal cause. The RCMP would not disclose how the suspects were associated with the gunman, 45-year-old James Roszko, saying that such information would amount to evidence "required for the court process." Roszko took his own life after fleeing following the attack.

Investigation into the so-called Mayerthorpe Incident [CBC backgrounder] has cost approximately $2,000,000 CAD and initially involved around 200 investigators. Roszko was aggressively anti-police, and large quantities of marijuana were fond growing on his farm. The officers originally went to the farm to assist bailiffs in repossessing a truck. CBC News has more. CTV News has additional coverage.