Mounties are upping the reward for tips as they continue to search for an outstanding suspect wanted in a killing east of Calgary earlier this month.
Mounties in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan, along with Edmonton, Lethbridge and Calgary Police Service members, are all still looking for 28-year-old Elijah Blake Strawberry in connection with the killing of Rocky View County employee Colin Hough on Aug. 6.
RCMP are now offering up to a $10,000 reward for any tips offered to police between Aug. 23 and Aug. 30 that lead to the arrest of Strawberry.
“The determination of entitlement to the reward will be made by the RCMP commanding officer, in its sole discretion,” reads a release from RCMP. “Such decision is final, binding, and not reviewable by a court of law.”
CrimeStoppers is still offering up to $2,000 for anyone that provides anonymous tips that lead to Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP still consider Strawberry armed and dangerous, adding he shouldn’t be approached, and ask anyone who sees him or has information about his whereabouts to call 911.
Carjacking led to fatal shooting, police say
Thirty-five-year-old Arthur Wayne Penner was arrested in Edmonton on Aug. 11 and faces a first-degree murder and attempted murder charge for his alleged role in the shooting that left Hough dead and another man injured.
RCMP believe Penner and Strawberry headed out to the country looking for a new vehicle after the one they had stolen the day before was partially disabled in a minor accident.
It’s alleged the suspects burned the vehicle they arrived to the rural intersection in, with a plan to steal the truck of a FortisAlberta employee working near Range Road 282 and Township Road 250, just north of Chestermere.
Police believe Hough pulled over to help, at which time he and the Fortis employee were shot. The pair then stole Hough’s Rocky View County pickup truck and drove in northeast of the scene to Wheatland County, before dumping it.
A shelter-in-place alert was issued after police located the abandoned truck using a GPS system, and was eventually ended after RCMP determined the pair were no longer in the area.