A helicopter circles, police return to Freeman’s home: Search for alleged killer enters second week

2 weeks ago 3

The sweet fragrance of fresh flowers rushes forth from the Wangaratta police station when the automatic glass doors open.

Inside, the lobby is laden with cards and hundreds of bouquets paying tribute to slain officers Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart.

Photos and flowers at Wangaratta police station in tribute to Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson (left and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart.

Framed portraits on a table show Thompson hunched over a dog, with a backdrop of hilly countryside, and De Waart’s pearly smile gleaming at the camera.

About an hour away in the High Country town of Porepunkah, heavily armed police returned to the home of so-called sovereign citizen Dezi Freeman, who is alleged to have shot the two officers dead and injured a third policeman before fleeing.

The search for Freeman entered its second week as police continued to saturate the wider region on Tuesday. As dusk descended, a helicopter circled above nearby Mount Buffalo while police monitored roads in the area.

In the nearby town of Bright, police established an information centre in the hope that locals or anyone with information might help them with locating Freeman.

On Monday, Superintendent Brett Kahan said investigators believed Freeman was alive and police suspected he was receiving help from people in the community to evade capture.

Police have set up an information centre for people to come forward with information in the town of Bright.

Freeman fled into dense bushland after the shootings. Police have deployed more than 450 officers to Victoria’s High Country, vowing to continue the search until he is found.

On Sunday Freeman’s wife, Amalia, issued a plea through her lawyers for her husband to hand himself in.

Amalia Freeman was arrested and then released with her 15-year-old son on Thursday. In the statement, she said she did not hold anti-authority views such as those purportedly held by her husband.

Meanwhile, a South Australian man has been charged after a poster of Freeman was displayed at a March for Australia rally in Adelaide on Sunday.

The 39-year-old man handed himself in at a police station on Tuesday following investigations by detectives, police said. The poster of Freeman was sighted in the crowd at the Adelaide rally.

On Monday, South Australian police said they believed they had identified the individual responsible for holding up the poster, which drew widespread condemnation from politicians and retired police.

Acting Commissioner Linda Williams said officers were unable to locate the man at the time of the protest but had since identified him.

Police searching a plantation in Porepunkah on Monday.

“This [Freeman] is a man who is wanted by Victoria Police for the shooting of two police officers whose families would no doubt have seen this image and would be likely distraught by what they have seen – as would every right-minded person – particularly every right-minded police officer,” Williams said.

“I can only underscore how outrageous that behaviour is on the face of it and that’s why we seek to locate this man and speak to him about the behaviour.”

The man was charged with displaying offensive material in a public place. He has been bailed to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court on October 28.

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