Out on bail: Ex-partner of mother killed in Brampton previously fired gun putting victim in danger, police say

The man who police say shot and killed Brampton mother-of-four Savannah Kulla was out on bail and awaiting trial for allegedly firing a gun and endangering the victim years ago, police say.

Peel Regional Police say Kulla, 29, was shot and killed by Anthony Deschepper, 38, in Brampton on Tuesday.

She was found injured in the parking lot of a shopping plaza near Airport Road and Queen Street East around 2 p.m., after reportedly arguing with Deschepper.

She was treated by Peel Regional Paramedics Services, but was pronounced dead on the scene.

It wasn’t until hours later that an Amber Alert was issued for Kulla’s one-year-old girl, believed to be kidnapped by her father, Deschepper. Police said the infant girl was in the backseat of Deschepper’s vehicle, and that he abducted the one-year-old baby girl after the shooting.

The girl was found safe on Tuesday night, and Deschepper was shot dead by police early on Wednesday at a gas station in the Niagara Falls area following a shelter-in-place order.

A woman, whose name has not been released, was also arrested and is facing charges.

Investigators are calling the woman’s murder a case of “intimate partner violence.”

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But in 2023, Deschepper was previously charged after police say he fired a gun in the air in Brampton, putting Kulla in danger. He spent weeks on the run from police and was eventually arrested in Waterloo.

No injuries were reported in that shooting, but Deschepper was released on bail under conditions including a no-contact order with Kulla.

He was charged with several firearms offences, including discharge firearm, unauthorized possession of firearm and possession contrary to order.

Police said following Anthony’s arrest that no firearm was recovered.

“When someone has a documented history of violence, firearms offences and intimate partner abuse, releasing them on bail isn’t justice. It’s absolute negligence,” Mayor Patrick Brown said in a press conference on Thursday.

Brown and Peel police called Kulla’s murder a “preventable tragedy,” and are calling for more resources from the province to better staff court houses and correctional facilities.

The Liberal government tabled legislation Thursday morning that would make it harder to get bail for a variety of offences, including vehicle thefts, extortion and breaking and entering.

Brown and members of council have been calling on tougher bail reforms since 2020, when Brampton woman Darian Hailey Henderson-Bellman was killed by her ex-partner, who had been released on bail five times. He said Kulla’s murder is “eerily similar” to that of Henderson-Bellman, and that both were “predictable and preventable.”

“We cannot continue to accept tragedies like Savannah Kulla’s or Darian Hailey Henderson-Bellman’s as inevitable. This is not a question of partisanship or ideology, it’s a question of public safety,” Brown said, adding that “our communities, our families, our victims deserve better.”

And while Brown said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the new federal legislation will help keep violent offenders from getting bail, he said the murders of Kulla and Henderson-Bellman were deaths “that our justice system could have prevented.”

Kulla often posted on her social media accounts about motherhood and raising her children.

“Words can’t explain how complete I feel. My baby girl, my princess. You are so loved already,” she wrote in a post on May 24, 2024. “Thank you for choosing me to be your mama. I can’t wait to live this life with you and your siblings.”