A so-called sovereign citizen who remains on the run after shooting dead two police officers and injuring a third is “heavily armed” with an arsenal of weapons and is well equipped to survive in the Australian bush, police say.
Dezi Freeman, 56, allegedly killed a 59-year-old detective and a 35-year-old senior constable while they were executing a search warrant at his property on Rayner Track in Porepunkah, near Bright in Victoria’s northeast, on Tuesday morning.
He fled into bushland with his family, who police initially feared were being held hostage, until his wife and children safely presented to a police station overnight.
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Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said Freeman, who was born Desmond Christopher Filby, is “heavily armed” and has urged the public to “be vigilant” as police pledge they will do everything to find him.
“We believe he has long firearms, powerful firearms, multiple firearms,” Bush said at a police press conference on Wednesday.
“We haven’t recovered any of his firearms from the scene, so we believe that the firearms he used, he is still in possession of.
“I can assure everyone that we are pouring every resource into this search for this person.
“We have a large team investigating this crime and we have a large team that are absolutely focused on finding this suspect.
“All of our specialist resources are there to make this happen.
“The hunt will continue until we find him. We must find him.”
Bush said Freeman “knows the area” and “understands bushcraft well”, which provides a challenge for detectives.
NSW Police are on standby to take over in the event that police learn Freeman has crossed over the border.
Bush said they do not have information to suggest Freeman has travelled interstate, but they are “open to every scenario” and “anything’s possible”.
Bush told the Porepunkah community and wider Bright area that the police officers and partner agencies in the area are working to protect them and urged them to “be vigilant” and “keep yourselves safe”.
“Please don’t go outside if you don’t need to,” he said.
“We will do everything to find this heavily armed individual.
“But if you see anything that arouses your suspicion, and you think we need to know, please ring 000 and tell us immediately.
“Don’t support this person. It’s very dangerous. He’s killed two police officers and injured a third.
“He does not deserve anyone’s assistance.”
Bush said the family of the dead officers are “distraught” but Victoria police are “putting every piece of support” around their families.
He said the identities of the officers who passed away will be released to the public later today once police have ensured all of their family members — including some who are travelling abroad — have appropriate support.
He said the third officer is out of surgery and is “significantly damaged”, but will recover.
“Our officers come to work every day to keep their communities safe,” Bush said.
“We always live with the knowledge that the worst could happen, but we don’t expect it to.”
Bush said the 10 officers were at the property to execute search warrants for alleged historic sex offences.
They included local officers and members of sexual offences and child investigation team.
Bush said the other seven officers had to “hunker down” until police could get extra resources to ensure they could safely extract them from the property because they did not know where Freeman was hiding.
It is too early for police to determine whether Freeman’s actions were ideologically motivated, Bush said, but he was known to police.
Bush said he was touched by the support offered to Victoria police in the wake of the tragedy.
“I would also like to thank the public, not just from Victoria but right across the country for the support that they have shown Victoria Police,” he said.
“It’s quite overwhelming and very comforting to know that the public support our police.
“We have had messages from the Prime Minister, the Premier’s been very vocal, all of my Commissioner colleagues from Australia, across the country and across the ditch have sent messages of support.”
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