'I thought I was going to die': Roadside shooting victim testifies at murder trial

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

An Alberta power company worker believed he was a goner one summer day as he stood beside a rural road when two men drove up and shot him through the arm.

Matthew Andres told court the assailants demanded the keys to his truck and put a gun to his head before he managed to flee to a nearby field.

Andres said he then remembered another vehicle arriving at the scene and saw two men run toward that truck and heard shots fired.

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He was testifying at the murder trial of Arthur Penner and Elijah Strawberry in Court of King’s Bench in Calgary.

The prosecutor has told jurors she will prove the two stole a vehicle in August 2024, then stopped on a rural road east of the city to swap it out for Andres’ truck, wounding him in the process.

When Andres’ truck became stuck, the prosecutor says, the pair then attacked a second truck that arrived on scene, shot and killed the driver, Colin Hough, and then made their getaway in Hough’s vehicle.

Andres, testifying Tuesday, said he had been doing survey work that day when he said he heard a vehicle pull up with what sounded like a flat tire, followed by the shooting.

“I thought I was going to die,” Andres told court.

Penner, 37, and Strawberry, 29, are also charged with attempted murder. They have pleaded not guilty.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2026.

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press