Australian police have shot dead a man believed to be the suspect in the fatal shooting of two officers and the serious wounding of a third in Victoria seven months ago. Commissioner Mike Bush said formal identification could take up to 48 hours, but authorities are confident the man is 56-year-old Dezi Freeman.
Freeman was accused of opening fire on police officers who arrived to serve a warrant at his home near Porepunkah on 26 August last year. The attack prompted a massive search across Victoria's heavily forested alpine region. In recent months, police had suspected Freeman may have taken his own life.
The suspect was shot on Monday after a three-hour standoff with heavily armed tactical police near Thologolong, around two hours north of Porepunkah. He was inside a shelter resembling a shipping container and did not accept an offer to surrender, according to Commissioner Bush. Police “strongly believed” he was armed, though it is unclear if he fired at them.
Freeman was known to espouse so-called sovereign citizen beliefs and held grievances against police. His wilderness survival skills led officers to fear he could evade capture indefinitely. A reward of 1 million Australian dollars ($678,000) was offered for information leading to his arrest.
Police continue to investigate whether anyone assisted Freeman in avoiding arrest. Commissioner Bush declined to say whether a tip-off led to Monday's operation, but he stated the goal was always to resolve the situation as peacefully as possible.
