Loud bangs heard as police return to scene of slayings
Allanah Sciberras, Callum Godde and William Ton |
Loud bangs have been heard at a property where a fugitive allegedly shot and killed two officers as armed police intensify their capture efforts.
Police have returned to a rural property at Porepunkah, about 300km northeast of Melbourne, where two of their own were allegedly ambushed and executed in cold blood by Dezi Freeman on Tuesday morning.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35, were killed while attempting to serve a search warrant at the property on the outskirts of the town.
At least four officers were seen on Wednesday afternoon standing outside the property, where onlookers described hearing loud bangs similar to gunshots.
Two ambulances were let through a police check point just after 5.20pm.
The town in Victoria’s high country remains in lockdown as police pursue Freeman – also known as Desmond Filby – after he fled into bushland.
The weather in the alpine region continues to deteriorate on Wednesday as the search focuses back on the property.
A bearcat vehicle was among several police cars, some with NSW plates, seen entering the blocked-off property.
Two helicopters were searching the region, with one hovering over the property before leaving just after 2pm.
Tributes are being paid to the slain officers, a detective close to retirement and senior constable on temporary assignment.
“This devastating loss of Neal and Vadim has struck at the heart of Victoria Police, the broader policing family and the community of Porepunkah,” Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said.
Another wounded officer is expected to recover after surgery.
A no-fly zone, spanning about 7.5km, for all aircraft and drones in the Porepunkah area will run until at least 11.30pm on Friday.
Police confirmed there had been no sightings of Freeman, in a statement at 2pm on Wednesday.
They released a photo of the suspect, described as Caucasian, 183cm tall, medium build, with short dark hair and brown eyes.
He was last seen wearing dark green tracksuit pants, a dark green rain jacket, brown Blundstone boots and reading glasses.
Marty Robinson, who has known Freeman for about 30 years, suggested the fugitive was highly intelligent.
He couldn’t say for certain but believes Freeman is bunkered down in bushland.
“He will survive out there,” he told AAP.
“He’s the modern-day Ned Kelly.”
Glen Siede, whose family runs a caravan park near the property, said the fugitive knew the “bush like the back of his hand”.
“There’s a lot of mine shafts and dugouts up in the bush,” he told AAP.
“They (police) have got some challenges and I feel sorry for them.”
Mr Bush conceded Freeman knew the area better than police and warned he could be carrying multiple high-powered guns.
“He understands bushcraft well,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
A police text message told residents to stay indoors and restrict non-essential travel, with the local school closed on Wednesday after being locked down after the shootings.
Police are confident he has not crossed the NSW border but their state counterparts are on high alert.
Freeman was known to police and a risk assessment was completed before 10 officers, local police and others from the sexual offences and child investigation team, executed the warrant.
The surviving officers hunkered down and returned fire but he evaded police.
Freeman’s partner and children went to a police station on Tuesday night and have been interviewed.
He 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.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia’s security intelligence had previously warned about “far-right extremism” involving so-called sovereign citizens.
He drew similarities between the 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.
“They will find this person,” she said.
AAP
