Police have shot dead fugitive gunman Dezi Freeman at a property in Victoria’s north-east, according to multiple media reports this morning.
Victoria Police said he was shot shortly after 8.30 this morning, the ABC reported.
A report in WA Today said Freeman was shot dead by armed police this morning (Monday) at 8.30am at a rural property near Porepunkah after more than six months on the run.
“Police were tipped off that he was believed to be hiding in a container on a property, according to unconfirmed reports,” WA Today reported.
Freeman has been wanted since August over the fatal shooting of two police officers at Porepunkah, near the township of Bright.
The 56-year-old Freeman fled into bushland at Mount Buffalo National Park after a shooting that apparently happened as police attempted to force entry to his caravan.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart were killed in the shooting.
What the media is not talking about is what Freeman told his friend Mike Holt, who spoke to him before the shooting last year.
Holt said he was told by Freeman that police were harassing him, had allegedly “stolen two of his cars, beaten him up and dragged him through the courts”.
Victoria Police told media that no officers were injured in the incident this morning. “The state coroner will attend the scene and Victoria Police’s Professional Standards Command will oversee the investigation into the shooting of Freeman,” the ABC reported.
Victorian government minister Sonya Kilkenny said it was a “developing situation”. “The main thing is that our thoughts, our concerns and our support are with the Porepunkah community and, of course, the families of the two police officers killed in that tragic incident almost six months ago,” she told media.
