Australian police have shot and killed Dezi Freeman after the double murderer spent seven months on the run.
A well-known conspiracy theorist, Freeman gunned down two police officers on his property in the small Victorian town of Porepunkah last August, before fleeing into dense bushland and evading extensive searches.
Victoria Police say a man was shot dead after an hours-long standoff at a rural property in the state’s north-east on Monday morning.
Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said the man is believed to be Freeman, 56, whose real name was Desmond Filby, but formal identification is still underway.
Police say they surrounded a building – described as a cross between a shipping container and a long caravan – on a rural property around 5:30 local time.
After three hours and multiple police pleas, a man believed to be Freeman came outside and was shot dead.
Bush told reporters said details are still being confirmed, but he believes Freeman emerged wrapped in a blanket and armed with a gun, possibly one taken from one of the slain officers back in August.
No officers were hurt during the operation, police said, which will be investigated, as is standard in police shootings.
Mr Bush added that investigators believe Freeman was helped while he was on the run, and detectives will now focus on working out who gave him aid.
“It would be very difficult for him to get to where he was… without assistance,” Bush said. “If anyone was complicit, they will be held accountable.”
In a statement on Monday, the Police Association of Victoria said Freeman’s death was a “step forward”– but not quite “closure”.
“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.”
Freeman, whose real name was Desmond Filby, was a self-described “sovereign citizen”, part of an anti-government movement that rejects authority and laws.
BBC/Maxwell Oyekunle
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