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The Victoria police shot dead a man who had been on the run after killing two officers last August, bringing to an end one of their largest searches.
Police said the identity of the man killed in the operation was yet to be formally confirmed but he was most likely to be Dezi Freeman, 56, of Porepunkah.
The fugitive was shot dead at a rural property in northeastern Victoria.
Freeman, whose real name was Desmond Filby, had been on the run since he fatally shot two senior police officers, Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart, last August. A third officer was seriously injured in the shootout that occurred on his property in the small Victorian town of Porepunkah.
Freeman described himself as a “sovereign citizen” who rejected government and law. He lived with his family on a bus on a 20-hectare plot on the outskirts of Porepunkah.
Victoria police chief commissioner Mike Bush said “everything I know at this point tells me that this shooting was justified”. “Should it be confirmed that the deceased is Freeman, this brings closure to what was a tragic and terrible event,” he said.
The standoff began at 5.30am when police officers surrounded a building similar to a shipping container where the fugitive was believed to be hiding.
“There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he declined,” Mr Bush claimed.
Police said Freeman was armed and wrapped in a blanket when police began the operation on Monday morning.
Anonymous police sources told The Age that they were tipped off about his location near a small township on the banks of the Murray river last week. Police had been surveilling the property for days before starting the operation that led to his death.
Police officers were executing a search warrant in connection with an investigation into sex offences last August when they were shot by Freeman.
Police quickly shut down the area and launched a manhunt in a landscape dominated by steep and rocky terrain with caves and mineshafts but Freeman’s bush skills made it challenging to trace him down.
John Bird, a close friend of one of the slain officers, said he felt relief after learning about Freeman’s death.
“It’s a good day,” he said. “It’s just a relief. Like I said, it doesn’t change anything much but it’s closure on that side of things.”
A spokesperson for Police Association Victoria said: “It does not lessen the trauma, give back the futures that were callously stolen or lessen the collective fear and grief that this tragic event has instilled in police and the wider public. Closure isn’t the right word. This represents a step forward for our members, for the families of our fallen members and for the community,.”
The association will formally address the media in the afternoon on Monday.
Freeman was born Desmond Christopher Filby but renamed himself Dezi Freeman to symbolise his belief in personal sovereignty.
The father of two was known by locals to be a kind and polite person but seemingly changed during the Covid pandemic, becoming outspoken about his deep distrust for the government’s restrictions and lockdowns.
He repeatedly called police officers “frigging Nazis”, “Gestapo”, and “terrorist thugs”. Freeman once told a court that he was a disability pensioner and claimed he had been persecuted by the state.
