Fugitive Dezi Freeman, the man allegedly responsible for the shooting deaths of two police officers in Porepunkah, has been killed after a seven-month manhunt in rural Victoria. The Victoria police chief commissioner, Mike Bush, confirmed a man was fatally shot by police shortly after 8.30am on Monday, following an hours-long standoff at a property in Thologolong in the state's north-east.
Bush would not confirm the man was Freeman but said police believed it was and that the shooting concluded Operation Summit, the investigation into Freeman's actions. He also said it brought closure to the families of the slain police officers. 'Whilst it's being reported that person is Desmond Freeman, we have to run through a very formal identification process,' Bush said.
Speaking at Thologolong later on Monday, Bush said Freeman left the building he was staying in with something similar to a blanket cloaking his shoulders, before he 'presented' a gun to police. Multiple officers from the special operations group then fired on Freeman. 'The deceased was given every opportunity to resolve this peacefully, and did not take that option,' Bush said.
Police had been searching for Freeman, also known as Desmond Filby, since 26 August when he allegedly shot and killed Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart, 35, and injured a third officer at a property in Porepunkah. Freeman, a 56-year-old with a history of association with pseudolaw or 'sovereign citizen' ideology, allegedly fled into the bush heavily armed.
Bush said the 'very first people' to be notified of the shooting on Monday were the families of Thompson and De Waart-Hottart. He said the search for Freeman was the 'most considerable investment in police resources we have ever seen', involving officers from every Australian state and territory and New Zealand.
