Joshua Mitchell now charged with murder in Calgary gas-and-dash death
The charges against a Calgary man accused of killing gas station attendant Maryam Rashidi in a hit and run have been upgraded to second-degree murder.
Joshua Mitchell, 20, was originally charged with criminal negligence causing death, hit and run causing death, dangerous driving causing death, possession of stolen property over $5,000 and theft under $5,000.
Rashidi, 35, was working as a gas station attendant at the Centex on 16 Avenue northwest when she was killed trying to chase down the driver of a stolen truck that did not pay for $113 in fuel.
Three days after she was injured, Rashidi died in hospital — leaving behind her husband and six-year-old son.
On top of the upgraded charges related to Rashidi's death, two other charges of breaching bail conditions and robbery were also added.
The upgraded murder charge replaces the criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving death counts that Mitchell originally faced.
Rashidi's family moved to Canada in late 2014 to work in the oil and gas industry.
Both engineers, they were laid off after just four months in Calgary — which is why Rashidi took the job at the Centex gas station where she had worked for just three days when she was killed.
