A fugitive accused of killing two Australian police officers has been shot dead after a 7-month manhunt

Australian police said on Monday they had shot a fugitive wanted for killing two police officers, ending a seven-month manhunt for one of the country’s most wanted criminals.

Desmond Freeman fled into the dense forest in August last year shooting and killing two police officers who came to search his home in Victoria state.

Hundreds of police officers have chased Freeman through the area’s rugged terrain for the past seven months, pouring resources into one of Australia’s biggest manhunts.

Police tracked Freeman down in a caravan in a “very remote” area of ​​rural Victoria, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said, shooting him after he refused to surrender.

“Everything I know right now tells me that this shooting was justified,” Bush told reporters.

“There was tension. There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, but he didn’t.”

The state coroner is yet to confirm the identity of the body and the cause of death, he added.

“Although the man has not been officially identified, police believe that may be the case,” Freeman said, police said in a statement.

Two local residents told AFP that Freeman was shot in Thologolong, near the border of New South Wales and Victoria states.

They said the landlord had been gone for a few weeks.

“This place is completely dysfunctional. In fact, I don’t think it’s a place you just stumble upon. You have to know where it is,” said Thologolong resident Jasmine Teese.

“There is no house there. The man who lives there lives in a collection of caravans, containers and old cars,” he added.

Another local resident, cattle farmer Mike Gadd, told AFP it was “hard to believe” Freeman had gone so long without being seen.

Police said they have not yet spoken to the owner.

Local media have described Freeman as a conspiracy theorist and member of a so-called “private citizen” organization, who falsely believes he is not under the law.

While fighting the speeding sentence in a Melbourne court, Freeman called the police “raiding Nazis,” “Gestapo” and “terrorists,” according to court documents.

During a hearing in 2024 to transfer his suspended driver’s license, Freeman told the court that “even seeing a police officer or a police car … is like an Auschwitz survivor seeing a Nazi soldier,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The 56-year-old suspect — known as “Dezi” — jumped into a park full of abandoned mine shafts.

Helicopters, a dog team and reinforcements from New Zealand were dispatched to help track down Freeman, who is reported to have strong bushcraft and outdoor survival skills.

Police deemed Freeman armed and dangerous.

At one point involving about 450 officers, the manhunt was one of the “most heavily resourced police operations” in Australian history, Bush said.

“Courage and Courage”

Police believe that Freeman may have avoided arrest with the help of local people who sympathized with his anti-authority views.

“It would be very difficult for him to get to where he is without help,” Bush said.

They offered an AU$1 million ($685,000) reward — the largest ever — for information leading to his arrest.

Freeman opened fire on police when they raided his home in Porepunkah village in August.

He killed 59-year-old detective Neal Thompson and 35-year-old Vadim De Waart. At that time, Bush said the police “were met by a criminal and killed in cold blood.”

The third police officer was injured below.

“Today, we cannot think of losing a coward,” said the Police Association of Victoria.

“We will remember the bravery and courage of our late members and all the police officers who pursued the community with this result.”

Although the reason for the investigation has not yet been released, the police said at the time the team included members of the sex and child investigation unit.

Before the August shooting, the last police officer to be shot and killed on duty in the country was in 2023 in the state of South Australia, according to the National Police Memorial website. In 2022, two police officers were shot by Christian religious activists in a rural area in the state of Queensland.

The three gunmen, who spoke of a conspiracy against the police, were shot dead by the police after a six-hour siege in Wieambilla district.