Jury hears closing arguments in rural highway shooting trial

A Calgary jury is weighing charges against two men accused of a roadside shooting in southern Alberta that killed one man and wounded another in August 2024.

Arthur Penner and Elijah Strawberry have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and two armed robberies. The Crown's case centres on an encounter near a rural road east of Calgary where power company worker Mark Andres was shot through the arm. Andres testified that two men drove up while he worked, one fired at him, and then pointed a gun at his head multiple times before he fled. The truck the two men were in was set on fire.

Colin Hough, a Rocky View County worker, arrived at the scene and was fatally shot. His truck was later stolen. Video footage captured his final moments as a figure moved across the intersection and collapsed in the middle of the road.

Crown prosecutor Photini Papadatou told the jury Thursday: "When you examine all the evidence as a whole, you must ask yourself: are there any other reasonable explanations?" She presented the case as involving two shooters, two guns, and two robberies.

A .45-calibre bullet was found where Hough collapsed, and a nine-millimetre shell casing was found near where Andres was wounded. Penner, 37, was arrested five days later; Strawberry, 29, was found a month later hiding on the O'Chiese First Nation.

Jury deliberations begin Friday.