Porepunkah shooting: Two officers dead and another wounded after shooting at High Country property, Victoria, Australia

[Deleted member 367982]

I read 10 police officers were there to see Freeman about historic sex offences.
Why so many and did the gunman know they were coming.
Surely a police sniffer dog can find them if the whole family then ran off into the bush.

 

[Monstradamus]

I read 10 police officers were there to see Freeman about historic sex offences.
Why so many and did the gunman know they were coming.
Surely a police sniffer dog can find them if the whole family then ran off into the bush.

I'm guessing he ambushed the police and did a runner into the bush. Apparently he was seen escaping alone, so who knows where his wife and children are?

 

[Klclevi]

He could be (and his family) could be at a friends place or family nearby - who would know.

 

[Deleted member 367982]

In Western Australia there was a Prince Leonard of the Hutt River province.
Perfectly harmless I would have thought. More a tourist attraction than anything else.
If Dezi Freeman represents what the sovereign citizen movement is today then perhaps it should be a banned organisation.

https://www.afp.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-09/123-2023.pdf

 

[MrJ]

Key Event
22m ago

PM says sovereign citizen ideology 'of real concern'​

By Jessica Riga​

The alleged shooter, Dezi Freeman, is believed to be a 'sovereign citizen' — people who use false legal theories to support their belief that the government is illegitimate.

When asked how much of a threat to Australia's way of life those beliefs pose, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told 7.30 "it is of real concern".

"We know that the Director General of ASIO has warned about far-right extremism.

"This is something that has permeated other nations as well. We see it being multiplied in the United States.

"The fact that this ideology of not seeing themselves being subject to our laws and our society.

"And it is of real concern, and ASIO have warned that this threat is very real, and that we need to be very vigilant about it."

Albanese also referenced the police shooting in Wieambilla in Queensland in 2022.

Manhunt continues in Victoria for suspected identified gunman as two officers killed — as it happened

Local communities have been asked to stay indoors and follow police advice as the search for the gunman continues into the night.

www.abc.net.au

 

[MrJ]

The government should move to declare the sovereign citizen movement a terrorist organisation

 

[ScottToorak]

If he has gone bush I would suggest they will starve him out because going in after him is fraught with danger. What is the danger to the helicopter if he shoots at it and hits it?

 

[SouthAussie]

It sounds as if his firearms license might have been cancelled previously. After the Sept 2020 incident.


Point 9: He [Freeman] suggested to her [Acting Sargeant Maher], and she denied, that she also arranged for one of her colleagues then to cancel his firearms licence.

Freeman v Maher [2024] VSC 682 (6 November 2024)

 

[ScottToorak]

Message from VIC Police Commisioner before the Press Conference scheduled for 6pm.

hasn't been sighted in past 3 weeks whilst all the robberies and machete attacks were happening in Melbourne.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1960259103084658850

 

[Klclevi]

For those who are not from this part of Vic - this valley has a wide and varied history. Aside from its absolutely stunning beauty and gateway to Mt Buffalo, Mt Hotham and Mt Beauty, its original origins came from gold (and a massive chinese community that built the backbone of alot of things) and the railway that was built that led up to Bright and also the Mount Buffalo chalet when it was in its prime in the day.
This castle in the sky was a gift to the people. Now Buffalo’s glorious chalet is ghostly silent
You leave the Hume highway (either just after Glenrowan and head right up the Snow road (Ned Kelly country) through Oxley, Milawa and Whorouly, or go a bit further and turn off just at Wang on the Great Alpine Road through Tarrawingee and Everton. Either way takes you through just beautiful lush cattle farms then you come to Myrtleford. Now this place has a massive Italian history for the hops and tobacco (and dodgy dealings). The tobacco is gone now obviously but there are still the kilns on some old places you can see. Anyway Myrt has always had a bit of a dodgy past to it because of the tobacco side of it. Now there are hop farms and the pine plantations that are harvested like every 20 years.
It is one of the most beautiful places in Aus.

We lived in this area for many years and it was always still a fright in the middle of the night with a deer honking outside your window or hearing the wild dogs howling but I do miss it.

MB made me laugh when he said its 'semi rural'. OMG it is not that. Do not get me wrong its a tourist town now, a bit too much , but If you live there and need a proper hospital service or specialist you are not going to the bush nursing hospital in town , you are going to Wang or Albury Wodonga or Melbourne. That means alot of travel. Its not 5km from your 'semi rural block'
It does attract some colourful characters and those who want to live off grid. You can easily disappear anywhere up there within a few hours if you know what you are doing. If you don't you are at the mercy of the elements.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1960255227367481828

 

[MrJ]

Key Event
2m ago

Flowers left at police station​

By Madi Chwasta​

A bunch of flowers have been placed outside the Wangaratta Police Station, about an hour's drive from Porepunkah.

Police have confirmed a 59-year-old detective and a 35-year-old senior constable were killed in the shooting, while another detective was seriously injured.

(ABC News: Sacha Payne)

Manhunt continues in Victoria for suspected identified gunman as two officers killed — as it happened

Local communities have been asked to stay indoors and follow police advice as the search for the gunman continues into the night.

www.abc.net.au

 

[3llecia]

It sounds as if his firearms license might have been cancelled previously. After the Sept 2020 incident.


Point 9: He [Freeman] suggested to her [Acting Sargeant Maher], and she denied, that she also arranged for one of her colleagues then to cancel his firearms licence.

Freeman v Maher [2024] VSC 682 (6 November 2024)

That caught my eye too.

Along with the fact that he did actually successfully argue that he could not be found to be speeding, because the police radar could have experienced interference from power lines or CB radio.

The other thing is his resistance to the oral drug test. I wonder if he was paranoid about his DNA being collected, that test seems to be the thing that triggered his sense of injustice and “self-defence”. My speculation’s because of the historical sex abuse warrant. The sort of allegation/charge that needs DNA-level evidence to be prosecuted years later.

That said, he did do the breathalyser, and his contempt seems to be universal when it comes to authority. The drug test could have been another chance to assert his belief system in the court he doesn’t believe in…

 

[Deleted member 367982]

For those who are not from this part of Vic - this valley has a wide and varied history. Aside from its absolutely stunning beauty and gateway to Mt Buffalo, Mt Hotham and Mt Beauty, its original origins came from gold (and a massive chinese community that built the backbone of alot of things) and the railway that was built that led up to Bright and also the Mount Buffalo chalet when it was in its prime in the day.
This castle in the sky was a gift to the people. Now Buffalo’s glorious chalet is ghostly silent
You leave the Hume highway (either just after Glenrowan and head right up the Snow road (Ned Kelly country) through Oxley, Milawa and Whorouly, or go a bit further and turn off just at Wang on the Great Alpine Road through Tarrawingee and Everton. Either way takes you through just beautiful lush cattle farms then you come to Myrtleford. Now this place has a massive Italian history for the hops and tobacco (and dodgy dealings). The tobacco is gone now obviously but there are still the kilns on some old places you can see. Anyway Myrt has always had a bit of a dodgy past to it because of the tobacco side of it. Now there are hop farms and the pine plantations that are harvested like every 20 years.
It is one of the most beautiful places in Aus.

We lived in this area for many years and it was always still a fright in the middle of the night with a deer honking outside your window or hearing the wild dogs howling but I do miss it.

MB made me laugh when he said its 'semi rural'. OMG it is not that. Do not get me wrong its a tourist town now, a bit too much , but If you live there and need a proper hospital service or specialist you are not going to the bush nursing hospital in town , you are going to Wang or Albury Wodonga or Melbourne. That means alot of travel. Its not 5km from your 'semi rural block'
It does attract some colourful characters and those who want to live off grid. You can easily disappear anywhere up there within a few hours if you know what you are doing. If you don't you are at the mercy of the elements.

Thank you for that rundown of the area. Very interesting. It's amazing this happened on a doorstep you know so well.
I hope this bloke Dezi has the decency to keep his kids out of harms way. I can imagine the bullets will be flying thick and fast when the police catch up with him. His life is basically over because of his strange beliefs but his kids should be allowed to live theirs and they can recover from this ordeal.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Manhunt continues in Victoria for suspected identified gunman as two officers killed — as it happened

Local communities have been asked to stay indoors and follow police advice as the search for the gunman continues into the night.

www.abc.net.au

Most likely a wrong choice of words.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns held a press conference earlier today, and called the police shooting "incredibly disturbing to the fraternity of police officers right across the country".

"I spoke to Premier [Jacinta] Allan not long ago and expressed our sincerest apologies for what's happened.

 

[MrJ]

1. I hope this coward is found soon.
And 2. I couldn't imagine being a politician or public figure during lockdowns and making tough decisions.

 

[TexLil]

I'm guessing he ambushed the police and did a runner into the bush. Apparently he was seen escaping alone, so who knows where his wife and children are?

And I'm wondering if he kept his children home from school in expectation of the attempted arrest.

 

[Marg944]

The Chief Commissioner of Victorian Police, Mike Bush……


“Mr Bush was notably the New Zealand Police Comissioner during the Christchurch massacre in 2019, where a shooter opened fire at a mosque killing 51 people.”

https://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/police-officer-shot-two-unaccounted-for-after-incident-in-victoria/news-story/f86aa60d804d0b31c42c89232d9625b4

 

[Detechtive]

I read 10 police officers were there to see Freeman about historic sex offences.
Why so many and did the gunman know they were coming.
Surely a police sniffer dog can find them if the whole family then ran off into the bush.

Because they knew he was an armed, soviet citizen nutcase? IMO