One of Australia’s most dramatic manhunts came to a violent conclusion on Monday morning when Dezi Freeman — the man accused of killing a police officer in the Victorian town of Porepunkah — was shot dead by armed police in rural Victoria.
Freeman had been on the run for more than seven months, eluding one of the state’s most intensive searches. According to unconfirmed reports from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Victoria Police received a tip-off that Freeman was believed to be hiding in a container on a rural property. That intelligence led to a confrontation that ended in a shootout.
Police confirmed that Freeman was armed at the time he was shot. A press conference was held later that morning to brief the public on the circumstances of his death.
The case had gripped the state since Freeman first fled after the alleged killing of an officer in Porepunkah, a small town in Victoria’s alpine region. His prolonged evasion of police sparked widespread public concern and a massive law enforcement operation. Investigations into the circumstances of the final confrontation are now expected to proceed, as is standard when police use lethal force.
