The man accused of killing two people at a Fox Creek work camp will finally be tried next week. Among other offences, Daniel Goodridge of Edmonton was charged with first and second-degree murder after the June 30, 2015 incident at Berland Open Lodge.
RCMP started getting calls about a man with a knife attacking people around 1:50 a.m. 37-year-old Dave Derksen of LaCrete and 50-year-old Hally Dubois of Red Deer were already dead by the time officers arrived. It was also reported that the suspect had tried to set fire to the work camp.
Mounties say the man refused to drop his knife and lunged towards them. He was shot by two officers, which an Alberta Serious Incident Response Team investigation deemed “not only reasonable but necessary”. When police tried to kick his knife away from him, he reportedly lunged at them once more and was shot again. In total, 13 rounds were fired by three officers.
Then 28-year-old Goodridge was taken to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries. In addition to his murder charges, he was also charged with assault with a weapon against civilians and a police officer and interfering with human remains. The interference charge is related to the cutting of pieces of one of the victims’ bodies.
Dubois was the Berland Open Lodge’s general manager and Derksen was a client. Goodridge had been employed by DJ Catering as a general helper in the kitchen for two years. There has been no word from authorities on any potential motive for the attack.
A trial was originally scheduled to run from May 15 to June 9, 2017, but unspecified issues with Goodridge’s legal council pushed the date back. It’s now slated for October 29th to November 9th at the Grande Prairie Provincial Courthouse.
