Two Victoria police officers have been killed and another injured while serving a warrant linked to historical sex offences in rural Australia on Tuesday morning.
The incident in Porepunkah in Victoria has triggered a manhunt for 56-year-old suspect Dezi Freeman who, police said, has described himself as a “sovereign citizen” – a movement known for promoting conspiracy theories and hostility toward law enforcement.
The town remained on high alert, with a large police presence and helicopters at the scene, as the search for Freeman extended through wet and cold conditions into Tuesday night.
Victoria Police said a 59-year-old detective and a 35-year-old senior constable were killed during the operation, and a third officer was seriously wounded and undergoing surgery.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese and Victoria premier Jacinta Allan praised the officers’ bravery, while the Australian Federal Police Association offered condolences to the victims’ families and colleagues.
A school located not far from the shooting was placed into lockdown and council buildings were closed while the situation was ongoing, with the authorities urging residents to stay indoors until the suspect is apprehended.
Freeman was considered “very dangerous” and believed to be armed, possibly including with firearms retrieved from the bodies of the fallen officers, police said.
Ms Allan said police would continue working through the night to locate the suspect.
“Clearly every resource is being deployed to apprehend this offender,” she said. “This offender will be found. He will be dealt with.”
Mr Albanese said the threat of “sovereign citizens” and extremist ideologies must be taken seriously.
“We saw a tragic loss of life in Queensland as well previously, and I attended the funeral service – which was so sad – of the officers there,” Albanese said on ABC 7.30.
“We know that the Director General of ASIO has warned about far-right extremism. This is something that has permeated other nations as well. We see it being multiplied in the United States.
“The fact that this ideology of not seeing themselves being subject to our laws and our society… we’ve seen people here, in Canberra as well, put forward those positions, who have demonstrated outside the Parliament.
“And it is of real concern, and ASIO have warned that this threat is very real, and that we need to be very vigilant about it.”
Australian media reports initially suggested the suspect had fled the scene of the shooting, where Freeman was believed to be staying in the grounds of a property, with his wife and other family members.
Victoria police commissioner Mike Bush later told the press that the police “are still looking to locate his partner and two children, but he was not seen heading into the bush with them”.
Mr Bush said arresting the gunman was the force’s “top priority”.
“The suspect for this horrific event is still at large, we believe he is armed,” said Bush.
“We have deployed every special resource into this … to locate him. That is our priority.”
A neighbour described the property where the officers were killed as isolated and gated “like a bloody prison”, with many people coming and going.
The man, who didn’t want to be named, said there was a community of people living on the property where the arrest warrant was served on Monday morning. “I didn’t know the bloke who did the shooting, I didn’t know his name,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“But there’s a lot of people living up there, it’s like a little community. You see a lot of cars driving in and out. They’ve got a huge gate there. You couldn’t get in, it’s like a bloody prison gate and I think it’s got a keypad on it to get in. I just can’t understand why the bloke who owns it would let people like that live on his property.”
