One of the men accused in the deadly Rocky View County shooting that left an Airdrie man dead and another injured in early August will not be facing a first-degree murder trial.
35-year-old Arthur Wayne Penner of Edmonton was initially charged with the first-degree murder of Airdrie resident Colin Hough and the attempted murder of another man. However, the prosecution has indicated that he will instead be facing a second-degree murder trial.
28-year-old Elijah Blake Strawberry, the other man accused in the shooting and who had been the subject of a month-long manhunt by RCMP, is also facing a second-degree murder charge.
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Police apprehended Strawberry in September after he had been on the run for over a month after the shooting. He was arrested at a residence in O’Chiese First Nation. The two men will be tried together. They are due back in court next week on October 17.
Timeline of events
August 6: At approximately noon, officers from the Strathmore RCMP received a report of two men who had been shot while doing work along a roadway on Township Road 250 and Range Road 281 in Rocky View County.
Investigators previously said that when they arrived on the scene, emergency crews discovered that Airdronian Colin Hough and a 39-year-old victim, who was later identified as a FortisAlberta employee, had both been shot during an attempted robbery by two, then unknown, individuals.
The suspects burnt the stolen vehicle they arrived at the scene in and stole one of the victim's Rocky View County pickup trucks.
Responding officers located the suspects in the Rocky View County pickup truck and engaged in a pursuit; however, the suspects successfully avoided police. Soon after, using the Rocky View County pickup truck's onboard GPS, police were able to locate the truck abandoned in a field near Range Road 252 and Township Road 260.
Police said that because they had very limited and vague descriptions of the suspects then, they did not want to release vague or potentially inaccurate information about them to the public.
"After conducting a thorough search, RCMP were satisfied that the suspects could no longer be in the area and the immediate risk to residents had subsided."
The shelter-in-place was lifted. Sometime later, police learned that during an unrelated incident, the suspects were involved in a minor collision in Calgary in which the stolen vehicle they were driving was partially disabled.
"They then drove to where the shooting victims were working and attempted to steal a new vehicle. It was at this time both victims were shot."
August 8: RCMP determined that 35-year-old Arthur Wayne Arthur Wayne Penner, a resident of Edmonton, was one of the suspects.
"Immediate actions were taken to set up surveillance on the 35-year-old individual and liaise with Alberta Crown Prosecutors to obtain charge approvals. Once the approval was received, RCMP, with assistance from Edmonton Police Service, safely arrested the 35-year-old individual in Edmonton."
August 11: Police identified Elijah Strawberry as the second suspect in this incident. Strawberry had successfully evaded capture for over a month.
August 16: Mounties announced a $2,000 reward for any successful tip that led to Strawberry's arrest. The reward was offered in partnership with Crime Stoppers.
August 23: The RCMP authorized a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to Strawberry's arrest.
September 6: Mounties released updated photos of Strawberry, with a message from Alberta RCMP Chief Superintendent Roberta Mckale, who directed her comments to Strawberry, saying that police would continue to look for him.
September 13: Alberta RCMP announced that Strawberry was safely arrested at a residence on O’Chiese First Nation.
September 17: The Crown prosecution announced that two men involved in the early August shooting death of an Airdrie resident would be tried together despite being charged and arrested separately.
The news of Hough's death shocked both Rocky View County and Airdrie. A GoFundMe campaign set up in Hough's memory amassed nearly $100,000. Hough was described as a 'beloved father, husband, son, colleague and friend who never hesitated to help anyone.'
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