Dezi Freeman, a fugitive who had eluded authorities for seven months, was fatally shot by heavily-armed police in northeast Victoria.
Freeman, aged 56, was discovered inside a shipping container near Walwa and was shot shortly after 8:30 a.m. on Monday. This location is approximately 188 kilometers northeast of Porepunkah, the area from which he vanished on August 26.
According to sources from Daily Mail Australia, police attempted to negotiate with Freeman, who identified as a sovereign citizen, before the fatal encounter.
Authorities were tipped off by an individual reportedly close to Freeman, leading to his location.
A police spokesperson confirmed, “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.”
Fortunately, no police officers sustained injuries 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.
Fugitive Dezi Freeman has been shot dead after seven months on the run after reportedly being found inside a shipping container near Walwa, 188km from Porepunkah
Daily Mail understand police tried to negotiate with the sovereign citizen before he was killed
‘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 Porepunkah property where Dezi Freeman shot and killed two Victoria Police officers
Freeman shot dead Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59
Freeman also shot dead Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34
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.
Freeman had been a sovereign citizen
Dezi Freeman alongside his wife Mali
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.
More to come…
