Alberta RCMP have arrested a suspect who had been on the run for more than a month after a fatal shooting in Rocky View County.
Elijah Blake Strawberry, 28, was one of the two men RCMP say were involved in the killing of Rocky View County worker Colin Hough on Aug. 6.
At a media update Friday evening, RCMP Chief Supt. Roberta McKale said Strawberry was taken into custody on the O’Chiese First Nation, about 50 kilometres northwest of Rocky Mountain House, shortly after 1 p.m. on Friday by members of the RCMP Major Crimes Unit.
She said it was an accidental encounter.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file, and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
Strawberry will be taken before a justice of the peace to determine his release status and future court date.
Man killed while trying to help
Around noon on Aug. 6, two men were looking for a vehicle to steal because the truck they’d stolen a day earlier in Calgary broke down after a collision, police say.
They came across a FortisAlberta worker at a rural intersection east of Calgary and set their broken, stolen truck on fire with a plan to steal the Fortis vehicle, police allege.
Hough, 45, spotted the fire and believed the two men needed help. RCMP say Hough pulled over in his Rocky View County work truck to lend a hand.
Hough and a 39-year-old FortisAlberta employee, who was working in the area, were both shot. Hough died of his injuries. He leaves behind a wife and two young sons.
The suspects stole the county’s work truck, dumping it later about 40 kilometres northeast of the shooting scene in neighbouring Wheatland County.
Upon discovering the shooting scene and abandoned trucks, police issued a shelter-in-place alert for Wheatland County. They lifted the order three hours later and began the search for the suspects.
On Aug. 11, one of the suspects was arrested in the Edmonton area.
Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, has been charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.
But for over a month, Strawberry remained at large.
On Aug. 23, Alberta RCMP announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Despite the arrests of Penner and Strawberry, police say the investigation into this matter continues. The RCMP is asking anyone with information about these crimes to come forward.