All this going down about an hour from where I live right now.
We are expecting snow down to 500 meters and winds up to 130 kmh tomorrow. It's his 3rd night out so he'll be pretty fucked by now unless he has a cave to hole up in with pre stocked supplies.
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Heavily armed police gather at a staging point in Porepunkah. Picture: William West / AFP
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An army of police is deploying to catch accused Porepunkah cop killer Dezi Freeman, who has managed to evade heavily armed officers for four days in Victoria’s freezing alpine region.
Victorian chief commissioner Mike Bush revealed the Australian Federal Police and officers from NSW, South Australia and the ACT were joining the high-country manhunt for the 56-year-old who allegedly killed two police in a shotgun ambush on Tuesday.
As the hunt ramped up, police raided a Porepunkah house on Thursday night and arrested the conspiracy theorist’s wife, Mali Freeman, and a 15-year-old boy.
The two were questioned before being released.
Mr Bush said 450 Victorian police – spearheaded by the heavily armed Special Operations Group – were leading the search for Freeman, who disappeared into rugged terrain after the officers were gunned down.
Mr Bush said the interstate reinforcements were joining the “professional and co-ordinated” operation in Porepunkah, a small town about 300km northeast of Melbourne. “They (police) have every resource they need to locate the person responsible for this horrific homicide,” he said.
Mr Bush said weather was complicating the search and police were looking in a “very wide” area for Freeman. “The weather certainly doesn’t help, but our people are very used to working in inclement conditions. It doesn’t help us, and I’m sure it doesn’t help the person we’re looking for,” he said.
“The search area will be determined based on intelligence. Again, I’m not going to give too much away in terms of that. It’s quite possible the suspect-at-large has access to technology. So it would be very unwise of me, on behalf of my investigation and search team, to share information.”
Mr Bush, who said 450 Victoria Police officers were already hunting Freeman, made a direct appeal to him: “Lay down your firearms.”
“If that person is listening, it really is time to lay down your firearms and give yourself up so that we can all bring this to a safe conclusion and this community can get back to what they love to do,” he said, before vowing to keep hunting the suspect.
“We are not leaving here until this person is in custody.”
Fugitive squad detectives, along with SOG officers, raided the accused killer’s property about 8.40pm on Thursday.
“The Porepunkah pair were interviewed and released pending further inquiries,” police said in a statement.
Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart were killed in the line of duty on Tuesday after attending Freeman’s property to serve a warrant relating to sex offences. A third officer wounded in the ambush remains in hospital after being shot in the leg.
Questions are being asked about why Victoria Police didn’t deploy more specialised officers to conduct the operation at the property, given Freeman had a long history of threatening police.
Mr Bush said there was no request for the SOG to attend. “What I can tell you is that it was considered but it wasn’t requested,” he said. “When they prepare for a search warrant, they’ll do a risk assessment. They will then decide what level of risk is attached to that and what resources are required to support that.
“They did not consider a request to the SOG necessary. So what follows is – there was no request, therefore there was no declining of a request.”
Mr Bush warned that “whoever is considering aiding him in this escape is aiding in a criminal offence”.
police on the scene in Porepunkha
On the arrest of Mali Freeman, the suspect’s wife, overnight, Mr Bush said there “may or may not be” charges that follow.
“People were interviewed totally and specifically in relation to the homicide investigation. So those searches have been completed, the interviews have been conducted, those people have been released. There may or may not be charges that follow, but it would be very inappropriate for me to say anything else at this point,” he said.
We are expecting snow down to 500 meters and winds up to 130 kmh tomorrow. It's his 3rd night out so he'll be pretty fucked by now unless he has a cave to hole up in with pre stocked supplies.
‘Lay down your guns’: top cop’s message to accused Porepunkha killer
MOHAMMAD ALFARES and DAMON JOHNSTONListen to this article
4 min
Heavily armed police gather at a staging point in Porepunkah. Picture: William West / AFP
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3 hours ago.
Updated 1 hours ago
An army of police is deploying to catch accused Porepunkah cop killer Dezi Freeman, who has managed to evade heavily armed officers for four days in Victoria’s freezing alpine region.
Victorian chief commissioner Mike Bush revealed the Australian Federal Police and officers from NSW, South Australia and the ACT were joining the high-country manhunt for the 56-year-old who allegedly killed two police in a shotgun ambush on Tuesday.
As the hunt ramped up, police raided a Porepunkah house on Thursday night and arrested the conspiracy theorist’s wife, Mali Freeman, and a 15-year-old boy.
The two were questioned before being released.
Mr Bush said 450 Victorian police – spearheaded by the heavily armed Special Operations Group – were leading the search for Freeman, who disappeared into rugged terrain after the officers were gunned down.
Mr Bush said the interstate reinforcements were joining the “professional and co-ordinated” operation in Porepunkah, a small town about 300km northeast of Melbourne. “They (police) have every resource they need to locate the person responsible for this horrific homicide,” he said.
Mr Bush said weather was complicating the search and police were looking in a “very wide” area for Freeman. “The weather certainly doesn’t help, but our people are very used to working in inclement conditions. It doesn’t help us, and I’m sure it doesn’t help the person we’re looking for,” he said.
“The search area will be determined based on intelligence. Again, I’m not going to give too much away in terms of that. It’s quite possible the suspect-at-large has access to technology. So it would be very unwise of me, on behalf of my investigation and search team, to share information.”
Mr Bush, who said 450 Victoria Police officers were already hunting Freeman, made a direct appeal to him: “Lay down your firearms.”
“If that person is listening, it really is time to lay down your firearms and give yourself up so that we can all bring this to a safe conclusion and this community can get back to what they love to do,” he said, before vowing to keep hunting the suspect.
“We are not leaving here until this person is in custody.”
Fugitive squad detectives, along with SOG officers, raided the accused killer’s property about 8.40pm on Thursday.
“The Porepunkah pair were interviewed and released pending further inquiries,” police said in a statement.
Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart were killed in the line of duty on Tuesday after attending Freeman’s property to serve a warrant relating to sex offences. A third officer wounded in the ambush remains in hospital after being shot in the leg.
Questions are being asked about why Victoria Police didn’t deploy more specialised officers to conduct the operation at the property, given Freeman had a long history of threatening police.
Mr Bush said there was no request for the SOG to attend. “What I can tell you is that it was considered but it wasn’t requested,” he said. “When they prepare for a search warrant, they’ll do a risk assessment. They will then decide what level of risk is attached to that and what resources are required to support that.
“They did not consider a request to the SOG necessary. So what follows is – there was no request, therefore there was no declining of a request.”
Mr Bush warned that “whoever is considering aiding him in this escape is aiding in a criminal offence”.
police on the scene in Porepunkha
On the arrest of Mali Freeman, the suspect’s wife, overnight, Mr Bush said there “may or may not be” charges that follow.
“People were interviewed totally and specifically in relation to the homicide investigation. So those searches have been completed, the interviews have been conducted, those people have been released. There may or may not be charges that follow, but it would be very inappropriate for me to say anything else at this point,” he said.
no cannibalism until they run out of beer, boxed wine or petrol next tuesday.
