Dezi Freeman still alive and being helped by supporters, police say

2 weeks ago 7

Freeman allegedly blasted Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, with a home-made shotgun through the door of a bus the weapon enthusiast was living in near the small township of Porepunkah.

The father of three then opened a window of the bus and shot Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35, who also died at the scene last Tuesday morning.

Another detective wounded in the attack is understood to have hidden under the bus for up to an hour, until paramedics arrived.

Kahan on Monday said the offer of a surrender plan made to Freeman in previous days was now also being extended to any potential accomplices who were helping him.

“Take up that offer, by whichever means you like, whether it be [calling] triple zero or otherwise,” he said. “We will formulate a surrender plan.”

Special Operations Group police officers during the manhunt in Porepunkah on Monday.

Kahan said police had received more than 450 pieces of intelligence from the public, which had assisted in their manhunt, and he called on anyone with information to contact authorities.

“What I can say, the outpouring of assistance from the local community has been simply remarkable in respect to those that know Dezi,” he said.

Kahan vowed police would not stop their search efforts until Freeman was found. The superintendent said the force owed it to the two slain officers.

“We owe it to Vadim and we owe it to Neal. And we owe it to not only the Victoria Police community, but the community at large,” he said.

“Because what we shouldn’t forget, is we’re looking for a person who killed two people.”

On Sunday, Freeman’s wife, Mali Freeman, urged her husband to surrender in a statement through her lawyer, which implored anyone harbouring him to contact police.

However, Kahan called into question the level of co-operation Freeman’s wife had afforded investigators.

“In respect to the suspect’s wife, what I’ll say [is], it’s two different things to be speaking with police and co-operating [with police],” Kahan said.

“We continue the search believing that Desi Freeman, who is suspected of killing two police officers, is alive.

“We are absolutely hunting for a fugitive, and we continue to do so.”

As the investigation into the shooting ambush continues alongside the search, a police source confirmed there was a discussion about whether Freeman’s alleged crimes could be deemed terrorism, but this suggestion has been dismissed.

Dr Josh Roose, a Deakin University associate professor who studies political violence, said while Freeman was clearly “highly, highly ideologically motivated” that was not enough to deem the alleged double murder an act of terrorism.

“In terms of establishing this particular incident, he (Freeman) would have to be identified as seeking to advance a political, religious, ideological cause,” Roose said.

“The question is: has he written a manifesto? Has he provided evidence in some way, shape or form? Is there evidence that this was an act designed to advance a political cause?”

Roose said investigators would likely be combing through up to tens of thousands of different pieces of materials linked to Freeman, analysing his phone records and probing what he was doing and saying online.

“[Allegedly] murdering two police officers and then going on the run afterwards because of your beliefs and not giving yourself up because your beliefs doesn’t necessarily make a terrorist attack,” Roose said.

“He’s got to have murdered or killed police officers in line with his ideology and to advance the ideology, and that’s tricky because in the case of sovereign citizen ideology, it’s not known for being primarily reactive, if anything, it’s a reaction to government.”

The Porepunkah double shooting has eerie similarities to the 2022 killing of two police at a remote property outside the Queensland town of Wieambilla, west of Brisbane.

Roose was an expert witness in the Wieambilla incident, where Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train shot and killed police constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, as well as neighbour Alan Dare, before being killed by members of the police special emergency response team.

But Roose said the Porepunkah case was not as clear-cut as where the Trains had documented their beliefs in YouTube clips and in writing.

Stacey Train had also mapped out “how long until the end of the world”, Roose said.

The Trains engaged in conspiracies and Gareth had declared himself a sovereign citizen. Queensland Police and ASIO declared that incident a terrorist attack motivated by a Christian violent extremist ideology.

“When the police came on [their property], they [the Trains] viewed them as devils and demons incarnate effectively,” he said.

Also on Monday, police officers inspected a Porepunkah property on which Freeman and his family were living.

The property where the shooting occurred.

Two armoured vehicles – known as BearCats – arrived at the rural farm perched beneath Mount Buffalo.

Police have also set up a special mobile facility in nearby Bright, which will be open seven days a week for people to come forward with information.

“We’re opening up other avenues for the public to approach us to give information about Dezi Freeman’s whereabouts,” Kahan said.

“Take that opportunity. They’ll be there daylight hours, every single day of the week, every single day of the weekend.”

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