Calgary trial begins after worker stops to help stricken truck, gets shot to death

The Calgary Courts Centre is pictured in Calgary, Monday, May 6, 2024. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)

Colin Hough was in his work truck one summer day when, hoping to lend a hand, he pulled up to a burning vehicle on the side of a rural road and was shot to death, court heard Monday.

Hough was the second person to be randomly fired upon at that spot, east of Calgary, on Aug. 6, 2024, Crown prosecutor Photini Papadatou told jurors on the opening day of the trial of Arthur Penner and Blake Strawberry.

The statement is not evidence but an outline of what the Crown hopes to prove in the Court of King’s Bench trial, which is scheduled to last a month.

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Minutes earlier that fateful day, Papadatou told court, Matthew Andres was doing surveying work — his electricity company truck parked roadside — when he heard another vehicle drive up with what sounded like a flat tire.

“An individual emerged from that vehicle,” Papadatou said. He shot Andres in the arm and demanded his truck keys, then walked back and forth pointing the gun at his head.

“(Andres) will tell you he feared for his life and that he fled to escape.

“He ran as far and as fast as he could as soon as he could, but he did not get very far. He threw himself into a field. He will frankly tell you he was trying to hide.”

As he hid, the two strangers set fire to their own truck, which had been stolen in Calgary the day before. But they couldn’t leave in Andres’ vehicle as it became stuck.

Another vehicle was needed.

In the distance, Andres could see the 45-year-old Hough, in his Rocky View County truck, approaching. He had no way to warn him.

Hough, said Papadatou, was shot three times. Video footage from a nearby semi-trailer driver captured his final minutes.

“His camera recorded a figure moving across the intersection and collapsing at that intersection in the middle of the road,” she said.

The Crown says a .45-calibre bullet was found where Hough had collapsed and a 9-mm shell casing found near where Andres was hit.

Houghs’ vehicle was later found abandoned. Penner, 37, was arrested five days later and Strawberry, 29, was found after a month hiding in a residence on the O’Chiese First Nation.

Andres is expected to testify Tuesday.

Penner and Strawberry are charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder. Earlier Monday they entered pleas of not guilty.

The jury was sworn in and addressed by the judge.

“You are the judges of the facts,” Justice Shane Parker urged them. “Use your common sense and experience.

“Don’t jump to conclusions. As the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2026.