Authorities in southeastern Australia fatally shot a man they believe is fugitive Desmond Freeman, bringing an end to the seven-month manhunt for the suspect accused of killing two police officers and injuring a third in late August.
The man was shot shortly after 8:30 a.m. local time following an hourslong standoff at a property in Thologlong, a small, rural area in northeastern Victoria along the border with New South Wales.
The person was pronounced dead at the scene after police rendered first aid. According to police, no one else was at the property and no police were injured.
Formal identification of the deceased is underway but Victoria Police said in a statement that they “believe it is likely to be 56-year-old Porepunkah man Desmond Freeman.”
Little information about the shooting has been made public, with Victoria Police stating the exact circumstances had yet to be determined.
Authorities said they believe the man was armed and an investigation will determine if his firearm was discharged.
“Whilst there will be a professional standards command and a coroner’s hearing into this matter, everything I know at this point tells me that this shooting was justified,” Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush told reporters in a press conference streamed live on YouTube.
“As I said, the operation was conducted by professionals from Victoria Police.”
The standoff began at about 5:30 a.m. and an “appeal” was made for the suspect to turn himself in, Bush said, adding that the situation came to an end when the suspect exited the property, which he described as a “cross between a container and a very long caravan.”
“There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he did not,” he said, describing the property where the shooting occurred.
Bush added that the first people informed of the operation’s outcome were the families of Senior Constables Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart, who were fatally shot on Aug. 26 by Freeman following a confrontation on his Porepunkah property.
“Should it be confirmed that the deceased is Freeman, this brings closure to what was a tragic and terrible event,” Bush said.
The two officers were killed and a third was seriously injured that day while executing a search warrant at the property as part of an ongoing child sexual abuse case.
Since then, police and detectives have looked into more than 2,000 leads in the hunt for Freeman and conducted several large-scale searches in the Porepunkah area.
The manhunt was “probably the most considerable investment in police resources we have ever seen,” Bush said, describing it as “one of the most significant and resourced … police operations in history.”
Identification of the deceased is expected to take between 24 and 48 hours.
“This represents a step forward for our members, for the families of our fallen members and for the community,” the Police Association Victoria said in a statement.
“Today, we won’t reflect on the loss of a coward. We will remember the courage and bravery of our fallen members and every officer that has doggedly pursued this outcome for the community.”
