MAYERTHORPE, Alta. - Family, friends and hundreds of police are to gather from across Canada in Mayerthorpe, Alberta for the opening of a memorial park built by the community to honour four young RCMP gunned down in 2005.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is to take part in the ceremony which is to include the unveiling of life-sized bronze statues of the young men and an obelisk to mark all peace officers who have died in the line of duty.

Constables Brock Myrol, Peter Schiemann, Leo Johnston and Anthony Gordon were ambushed on March 3, 2005 by James Roszko on a nearby farm.

Roszko, who had a long history of run-ins with police, later shot himself.

Relatives of his victims say they admire the town's people who have spent more than three years organizing, fundraising and building the $1.8 million project.

Margaret Thibault, one of the driving forces behind the memorial park, says Canadians through their donations have helped turn something ugly into something beautiful that will mark the memories of the fallen Mounties.

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