Accused cop killer was caught up in a serious inquiry
Allanah Sciberras, William Ton and Callum Godde |
Police were serving a search warrant connected to a sexual or child abuse investigation on a man when he allegedly opened fire and killed two officers and wounded another.
Porepunkah, about 300km northeast of Melbourne, remains in lockdown on Wednesday as police pursue Dezi Freeman, who has a history of court interactions, over the shootings after he fled into dense bushland.
Ten officers were met with gunfire when ambushed while executing the warrant at a rural property on Rayner Track, on the outskirts of the town, on Tuesday.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush confirmed the officers were locals and members of the sexual offences and child investigation team.
A 59-year-old detective and a 35-year-old senior constable were shot dead, with another wounded officer expected to recover after undergoing surgery.
Police expect to reveal the identity of the slain officers once relatives travelling overseas are informed.
“The family are distraught, as you can imagine,” Mr Bush told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday morning.
Freeman was known to police and a risk assessment was completed before officers executed the warrant.
The surviving officers hunkered down and returned fire but the 56-year-old, who possesses multiple firearms, fled.
Freeman’s partner and children went to a police station on Tuesday night and have since been interviewed.
Police have dedicated mass ground and air resources to find him.
Mr Bush said Freeman, also known as Filby, knew bushcraft and could be carrying multiple high-powered guns.
There were no confirmed sightings across an expansive search area overnight, but police are confident he has not fled across the NSW border.
“We must find him,” Mr Bush said.
Porepunkah was eerily quiet on Wednesday, with roadblocks removed and vantage point tents abandoned.
Police cars appear to have left the property.
Weather conditions were improving early on Wednesday but soon shifted as rain started sweeping across the alpine region.
A police vantage point has been established at Feathertop Winery, where dozens of officers have gathered.
Members of the dog squad were seen heading into the surrounding bushland near the winery, which is five minutes out of town.
A police text message told residents to stay indoors, with the local school closed on Wednesday after being locked down following the shootings.
Freeman is believed to be a sovereign citizen, an ideology that questions government authority and whose followers believe the rule of law doesn’t apply to them and who disassociate from society.
He was arrested during a protest outside Myrtleford Magistrates Court in 2021, after the failed private prosecution of then-state premier Daniel Andrews for treason.
Freeman branded police “frigging Nazis”, “Gestapo” and “terrorist thugs” when he appealed a County Court decision banning him from driving for two years.
In his evidence, Freeman said the sight of an officer or police car was like “an Auschwitz survivor seeing a Nazi soldier”.
“What’s worse than a swastika is the inverted pentagram, the Satanic symbol they wear and they behave like it as well,” he told the Supreme Court.
His push for a judicial review was dismissed.
He and his family were also featured in a 2018 segment on Nine’s A Current Affair about a neighbourhood dispute and in 2019 he tried to arrest a magistrate in Wangaratta.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia’s security intelligence had previously warned about “far-right extremism” involving so-called sovereign citizens.
“The fact this ideology of not seeing themselves being subject to our laws and our society … is of real concern,” he told ABC television on Tuesday night.
He also drew similarities between the alleged incident and another in Wieambilla in 2022, when two Queensland officers conducting a welfare check were shot dead by people who identified as sovereign citizens.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan described Freeman as a criminal and said the law applied to everyone.
AAP
