Australian fugitive Dezi Freeman shot dead after seven months on the run
Australian fugitive Dezi Freeman shot dead after seven months on the run
Police say the suspected double-murderer was killed after an hours-long standoff at a northeast Victoria property; formal identification pending.
Police say Dezi Freeman, a 56-year-old conspiracy theorist, has been shot dead after seven months on the run. Authorities believe Freeman is the man who killed two police officers in Porepunkah in August, sparking a widespread search across Victoria's alpine region. The manhunt concluded after an hours-long standoff at a rural property in the state’s north-east, where Freeman was found and shot by officers. Formal identification is expected to take 24 to 48 hours, authorities said, and no officers were injured during the operation. The incident is to be investigated in line with standard procedures, as is customary in police shootings.
Police say the focus now shifts to anyone who may have assisted Freeman while he was on the run; if anyone is found complicit, they will be held accountable. The Police Association of Victoria described Freeman’s death as a “step forward” and offered condolences to the families affected by the August killings.
The case began when two senior constables, Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart, were killed on Freeman’s property in the small town of Porepunkah during an investigation into sex offences. Authorities had pursued Freeman through dense bushland for months, urging him to surrender peacefully, but he did not. The north-east Victorian alpine region has been left to reflect on a lengthy and controversial manhunt and its aftermath.
