Ex-boyfriend charged with first-degree murder in slaying in Calgary parkade
Madisson Cobb had been granted a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend in June.
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The ex-boyfriend of an Okotoks woman fatally shot in a Calgary parkade Saturday afternoon near her workplace has been charged with first-degree murder in her death.
Devon Bradley Malik, who was subject to a restraining order that he have no contact with Madisson Cobb or attend her place of work, appeared briefly via video link Tuesday before Justice of the Peace Samuel Wan.
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Wan ordered Malik to appear in Calgary Court of Justice on Wednesday at the request of defence counsel Jason Wuttunee and remanded him in custody.
The justice of the peace also granted a request by Crown prosecutor Geoffrey Urch for an order that Malik have no contact with four named witnesses.
Malik, 26, is charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Cobb, 23, in a parkade adjacent to the commercial complex where the victim worked at LASIK MD.
In June, the Okotoks resident was granted a restraining order by Calgary Court of King’s Bench Justice Eleanor Funk after filing a sworn affidavit expressing her fear for Malik, with whom she dated for nearly a year before breaking up with him in January.
“The RCMP made us aware that Devon has a firearm that they were unable to find, and Devon confirmed he had one when speaking to me,” the slain woman said in her statement.
She said her ex-boyfriend had been inundating her with messages and calls since they broke up Jan. 28.
Court records also show the 26-year-old man faces two separate harassment charges, from May 30 in Okotoks, and June 1 in Calgary.
In her affidavit seeking a restraining order — which was granted June 10 and prohibited the ex-boyfriend from being within 100 metres of Cobb as well as her Okotoks home and her workplace on Macleod Trail — Cobb indicated she feared the man would harm her.
“This past month I have been living in fear, shake and have panic attacks when I’m out or hear my phone go off out of fear he is there,” she wrote.
“I live in fear everyday from him, I want him out of my life.”
Kim Ruse, CEO of FearIsNotLove, a women’s shelter whose residents are mostly survivors of abuse, said ending a relationship with an abusive partner is the most dangerous period for the victim.
Losing the ability to control their partner triggers a panic that amplifies the abuse inflicted on the victim, said Ruse. They intensify their actions to keep that person in the relationship.
“When they do leave, you’ll see stalking behaviours increase, controlling behaviours increase, violence increases,” she added.
Cobb also indicated she tried to tell the former boyfriend that their breakup was best for both of them.
“I told him parting ways is best and no need for all this, he got upset and said ‘I’m making my own living hell,’ he called me a ‘stubborn bitch,'” she said.
“His last message states, ‘no threats, because I’m not the one that you have to worry about.'”
Ruse said having to be responsible for their own safety is the biggest challenge facing victims. Their abusive partners, meanwhile, aren’t held accountable until it’s too late.
“(Victims) go to these extreme lengths to keep themselves safe and and we expect very little of our our systems and our perpetrators to to stop the abuse,” she added. “And I think that needs to change.”
That means taking action when the victim voices concerns about their safety.
“Our legal system and our courts need to take that seriously and not release people back into society so they can harm people,” Ruse said.
“When people make those threats, we need to take them seriously.”
The parkade in which Cobb was shot is adjacent to the commercial complex where she worked.
In one supporting document in which Cobb was asked about a weapons warning she wrote: “It is believed/confirmed he has a gun.”
Malik is also scheduled to appear in Calgary Court of Justice on Wednesday on the Calgary harassment charge and is due in Okotoks court on Friday on the other charge.
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