Niagara police officer who fatally shot Brampton man wanted for murdering ex-girlfriend, kidnapping baby cleared

An officer-involved shooting in Niagara Falls has led to the death of a suspect who police say fatally shot a woman in Brampton and fled in a car with a one-year-old child in the back seat.

A Niagara police officer who fatally shot a Brampton man in the early morning hours of Oct. 22, 2025, after he killed his ex-girlfriend and kidnapped their young daughter, did not commit a criminal offence, the director of Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says.

In his March 17 decision, Joseph Martino concluded the Niagara Region Police Service officer, identified by the civilian agency as the subject official (SO), was “legally justified” in shooting the man, known as the Complainant. Martino said the officer fired his weapon in self-defence and was “intended to deter a reasonably apprehended assault, actual or threatened, and was itself reasonable.”

“I am satisfied that the SO fired his weapon to defend himself from a reasonably apprehended attack by the Complainant,” he said.

Martino also noted the officer had reason to believe the Complainant was in possession of a gun that he had used the day before to shoot a woman.

“Confronted by that same individual pointing and firing a gun in his direction, the officer would have had every reason to believe that he needed to act to save himself and his fellow officers from death or grievous bodily harm,” Martino wrote, adding the SO’s decision to shoot the suspect “constituted reasonable force.”

“The officer’s life was in imminent peril. The Complainant had just fired his gun at him and there was every reason to believe that he would continue to fire. Nothing short of the Complainant’s immediate incapacitation would meet the exigencies of the moment, and the only weapon with the stopping power capable of doing that was a firearm.”

Man killed his ex, kidnapped their baby

On Oct. 21, 2025, Peel Regional Police said they were called at around 2 p.m. to the parking lot of a strip mall near Queen Street East and Airport Road in Brampton. There, officers located a woman suffering from gunshot wounds.

The victim was later identified by police as 29-year-old Savannah Kulla, a mother of four from Brampton. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

• READ MORE: Woman fatally shot in Brampton plaza parking lot remembered as a good mom who wanted the best for her 4 kids

Police say the suspect, 38-year-old Brampton resident Anthony Deschepper, fled in a black 2024 Nissan Kicks with a Quebec licence plate. At the time, they said there was a one-year-old child in the back seat. An Amber Alert was subsequently issued.

The SIU said witnesses reported seeing a child with the Complainant immediately following the shooting. The man left the child, who was found safe and in good health, with family members and departed for Niagara Falls.

Suspect found in Niagara Falls

Around that time, police in Peel Region advised their Niagara counterparts that there were grounds to arrest the suspect and efforts began to find him starting that afternoon.

The SIU says the black Nissan was a rental and they had tracked it to a home near Thorold Stone and Kalar roads in Niagara Falls. A woman, they said, arrived at that address in a beige Chevrolet.

Around that time, residents near Prospect Point and Ridgeway Road in Fort Erie were subsequently advised to shelter in place, after learning Deschepper may be in the vicinity.

At around 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 22, 2025, NRPS confirmed they located the suspect in the Chevrolet at Gales Gas Bar on Thorold Stone Road. They said there was an “interaction” with officers at the scene.

He was pronounced deceased at 2:53 a.m. An autopsy later determined that Deschepper’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the chest.

• Brampton Amber Alert suspect killed in officer-involved shooting: police

Suspect had a gun: SIU

Martino indicated in his report that a loaded firearm was present in the back seat of the Chevrolet, which the Complainant had used to fire three shots in the officer’s direction.

“The officer immediately returned fire, discharging eight or nine rounds and striking the Complainant multiple times,” the SIU report read, noting the number of shots fired by the SO were no more than what was warranted.

“The Complainant sustained several gunshot wounds to the upper body. A semi-automatic firearm was retrieved from his right hand after the shooting. Officers removed the Complainant from the rear of the truck and began to administer emergency first aid.”

The SIU, which is called in to investigate when police are involved in an incident that results in death, serious injury, sexual assault, and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person, was notified of the incident and invoked its mandate, assigning six of its investigators and two of its forensic investigators to the case.

Two civilian witnesses along with 13 witness officials were interviewed during the SIU’s investigation, while the subject officer declined, as per his legal right, Martino noted in his report.

This investigation is now concluded.