Police outside Edmonton say a gas station attendant has been killed after apparently trying to stop an alleged “gas-and-dash.”
Police say the incident happened around 4 p.m. Friday at the Fas Gas on Highway 39 in Thorsby, roughly 70 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.
Witnesses told CTV Edmonton they saw the employee run after the driver of a white cube van. The employee hung onto the van for roughly a block before the driver swerved.
Police say the man died at the scene.
"He was on the side of the cube van,” Sgt. Corey Kyle, Thorsby RCMP commander, told CTV Edmonton. “He may have been trying to stop the van at that time and he appeared to have fallen off."
Edmonton’s major crimes unit is investigating the incident. RCMP released a photo of the suspect vehicle on Saturday and are using security footage from the neighboring buildings to try to find any clues.
Police have not identified the victim pending notification of family.
The incident happened two years after another Alberta gas station employee died on the job.
Maryam Rashidi Ashtiani died on June 9, 2015 after she was fatally injured in a hit-and-run at a Calgary gas station. She had tried to stop a $113 gas theft when she was struck by a stolen pickup truck.
Joshua Mitchell, 22, was convicted of manslaughter in her death and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
With files from CTV Edmonton’s Diego Romero and Nahreman Issa
