Fugitive Dezi Freeman, the man allegedly responsible for the shooting deaths of two police officers at 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, after an hours-long standoff in which he failed to surrender peacefully at a property in Thologolong.
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.
Freeman was a 56-year-old with a history of association with pseudolaw or “sovereign citizen” ideology. 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 on 26 August. He fled into the bush heavily armed, sparking a high-profile manhunt.
Bush said the investigation was in its “early days” and would track backwards to work out how long Freeman had been at the property and who helped him. He said he was “sure some” people assisted Freeman. “We will conduct an investigation to see if others have been complicit and aiding him,” Bush said.
