Two men convicted of murder of Calgary county employee

Two men have been found guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal roadside shooting of a county employee east of Calgary in 2024. A jury delivered the verdicts against Arthur Penner and Elijah Strawberry on Saturday after deliberating for 14 hours.

The men were convicted for the killing of Colin Hough, a 45-year-old employee of Rocky View County, on August 6, 2024. They were also found guilty on two counts of armed robbery related to the theft of Hough’s vehicle and an attempt to steal another truck from a utility worker, Matthew Andres, who was shot and wounded at the same location.

The incident unfolded when Andres, a FortisAlberta surveyor, was approached by two men in a vehicle with a flat tire. One of the men shot him through the arm, demanded his keys, and pointed a gun at his head. Andres managed to flee and witnessed from a distance as the assailants' truck was set on fire. He testified that Hough then arrived at the scene to investigate, after which the two masked men ran toward Hough’s vehicle and opened fire. Hough was struck three times and left on the road, and his county pickup truck was stolen.

The prosecution argued that the totality of the evidence pointed...