Fugitive Dezi Freeman has been shot dead by heavily-armed police in northeast Victoria after seven months on the run.
Freeman, 56, was shot shortly after 8.30am on Monday after he was reportedly found inside a shipping container near Walwa, about 188km northeast of Porepunkah, where he went missing on August 26.
Daily Mail Australia understands police tried to negotiate with the sovereign citizen before he was killed.
Police had received a tip-off ‘from someone close to him’ before locating him.
‘A man has been fatally shot by police at a property in northeast Victoria this morning as part of the operation to locate Desmond Freeman,’ police said.
‘No police officers were injured during the incident.’
Freeman had been on the run since he fatally shot Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34, and injured a third officer at Porepunkah, about 300km northeast of Melbourne, on August 26.
Wayne Gatt, secretary of the Police Association Victoria, said the shooting was a ‘step forward’ for the force.
‘Our members said they would find him. They did,’ Gatt said on Monday.
‘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.
‘It doesn’t 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,’ Gatt said.
He continued: ‘Today, we won’t reflect on the loss of a coward. We will remember the courage and bravery of our fallen members and every officer that has doggedly pursued this outcome for the community.
‘They have worked tirelessly. During the emergency, in the operation that followed and the months thereafter, members across the state have devoted themselves to this singular pursuit.
‘Days like today offer a sobering reminder that policing happens while you sleep, when the media spotlight on an investigation dims and when everything seems lost and forgotten. RIP Vadim and Neal. Today, we remember you.’
Freeman was last seen armed and fleeing into bushland near his Rayner Track property after the fatal shootings.
The shot officers were among a group of ten who had attended Freeman’s property to serve a warrant over historical sex abuse allegations.
The shootings sparked a massive manhunt, with hundreds of officers scouring bushland in and around Freeman’s remote hideout beneath Mount Buffalo.
Search crews combed steep, rocky terrain littered with caves and mineshafts but found no trace of him.
More than 100 homes and properties were searched as police investigated whether anyone was helping Freeman evade arrest.
Police also offered one of the largest rewards in Australia, promising $1 million for information leading to his capture.
Early in the investigation, Freeman’s wife Mali, who police confirmed was present during the fatal shootings, and a 15-year-old boy were arrested on allegations of obstructing police, but were later released without charge.
Several days later, Ms Freeman issued a statement urging her husband to surrender.
Police in December revealed they had shifted their search efforts to locating the body of the self-described ‘sovereign citizen’, but a five-day operation using cadaver dogs and drones yielded no results.
Freeman subscribed to the sovereign citizen movement’s ideology and was receiving Centrelink benefits before the shooting.
Adopters of this worldview usually believe the government is illegitimate and that the law does not apply to them.
Footage illegally filmed and published online from a court appearance of Freeman in Wangaratta in November 2024 showed him enacting behaviour akin to the ideology by attempting to arrest the magistrate and police officers.
The hearing was one of several disruptive court appearances in which Freeman demonstrated his contempt for the legal system.
A friend previously blamed the sovereign citizen movement for radicalising Freeman.
‘He was unemployable. He couldn’t hold down a job … it was his temperament,’ the friend said.
More to come…
