One of the Edmonton men accused of murdering a Good Samaritan last week in a violent carjacking east of Calgary had just finished serving a prison sentence during which he was denied parole because of the danger he presented to the community and law enforcement, newly released documents show.
Elijah Blake Strawberry, 28, is wanted on second-degree murder warrants after Colin Hough, 45, was fatally shot at a rural intersection near Chestermere.
In June, Strawberry finished serving a prison sentence for crimes that largely mirror — other than the homicide — the most recent allegations.
Strawberry and Arthur Wayne Penner — who also faces a murder charge in Hough’s death — are accused of stealing at least two vehicles, shooting two men and fleeing police in a high-speed chase over several days and across multiple jurisdictions beginning Aug. 5.
In 2021, Strawberry was arrested after fleeing police in a stolen vehicle and was ultimately found to have four stolen firearms in his possession, court records show.
Strawberry had stolen the guns, including a loaded 9-mm handgun and three assault rifles, from a home earlier that day. He was high on crystal meth at the time, according to the Parole Board of Canada (PBC).
‘Active in your crime cycle’
After pleading guilty that same year, Strawberry began serving a two-year, four-month sentence.
He applied for parole in January 2023, but the board denied Strawberry’s release, ruling that he was “heavily entrenched” in a prison gang and had been caught numerous times with homemade shanks in his cell.
“Your release would not contribute to public safety at this time,” the parole board wrote in its 11-page decision.
“You have recklessly placed the community and law enforcement in danger.”
The board noted that Strawberry first became involved in a gang after he was kicked out of his home at age 14 by an abusive, alcoholic father because it “provided [him] with a family-type bond [he’d] never experienced before.”
Strawberry’s continued affiliation with a gang demonstrated “a desire to live a pro-criminal lifestyle” and “reflects a criminal entrenchment and comfort in this lifestyle,” wrote the board.
“Your continued behaviour involves jail-made stabbing weapons and other contraband, as well as lighting a fire in your cell; all demonstrating you are still active in your crime cycle.”
Sent back to prison
In March 2023, just two months after parole was denied, Strawberry was let out of prison on statutory release after serving two thirds of his sentence.
The board imposed a number of conditions including that Strawberry stay away from drugs, alcohol and gang members. He was also to abide by a curfew.
Just six weeks after he was released, Strawberry failed to show up at his halfway house, in breach of his curfew. He evaded police for the next five months before he was found hiding in a closet “at a known drug house” and sent back to prison.
At a hearing in December 2023, the PBC revoked Strawberry’s statutory release.
‘Only a matter of time’
With the five months he was on the lam taken into account, Strawberry’s prison sentence was set to expire in June 2024.
He is subject to a lifetime firearms prohibition.
Penner was arrested Sunday and faces charges of first-degree murder in Hough’s death and attempted murder for the shooting of a FortisAlberta employee.
Strawberry is currently considered armed and “extremely dangerous,” according to RCMP.
In an update on the manhunt for Strawberry, Staff Sgt. Mark Wielgosz with the Strathmore RCMP detachment said Thursday that every law enforcement agency in the province is “on the lookout” for the suspected killer.
“It is only a matter of time,” Wielgosz said.