A small community in northern Alberta is coming to grips with a stabbing in a work camp that left a man and woman dead earlier this week.

"The brutality of the crime is what really shook the community up," said Bill Neufeld, the reeve of Mackenzie County.

Hally Dubois, 50, and David Derksen, 37, have been identified as the two people killed in the grisly attack Tuesday at the Berland open work camp, about 50 kilometres outside Fox Creek, Alta.

Police were called to the camp, a facility for oil and gas and logging employees to stay overnight while working at remote sites, just before 2 a.m. Tuesday. There they found the two people dead.

Shot while being arrested

Police later found a suspect and shot him while taking him into custody. He was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Daniel Goodridge, 28, of Edmonton is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder and interfering with human remains in the attack.

Neufeld said that the incident was witnessed by two men who both live in the community.

"They witnessed it and they were the ones chased by the attacker there into the bush," Neufeld said. "They're shook up pretty bad."

Goodridge is facing two counts of assault with a weapon against two other men, who were not the witnesses Neufeld described, and an additional count against RCMP Const. Bradley Schram.

Neufeld said the community is looking into providing counselling for the witnesses.

"They had a real harrowing experience," he said.

Abe Klassen was a childhood friend of Derksen.

"He was a good friend and a hard worker," Klassen said. "He was good to get along with."

'Wanted to live for the Lord'

He said Derksen was an experienced logger and equipment manager who was working in Fox Creek to set up the work camp. While his friend had made some "not so wise" choices in the past, Klassen said, he had recently become deeply religious and was "making changes" in his life.

"He was a different man. He just wanted to live for the Lord."

Klassen said Derksen's family is still in shock over the death, but is working to try to forgive the person responsible for the killing.

"How can anyone be that cold, how can anyone do that?" he asked.

"I just pray the man who did this will be able to see what he has done and repent."

Goodridge is scheduled to appear in Fox Creek provincial court on July 27.