Victoria’s top cop has revealed that the moment fugitive Dezi Freeman pulled out a gun in front of armed police has been captured on video.
The cop killer, who was found hiding in a makeshift home in regional NSW, was reportedly holding a gun when he emerged in front of armed officers before he was shot dead.
Victoria’s Police Commissioner Mike Bush told media on Monday afternoon that the stand-off had been filmed on police cameras and that he had reviewed the footage.
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Desmond “Dezi” Freeman had been missing since August 26 last year, when he allegedly shot dead detective Sen. Const. Neal Thompson and Sen. Const. Vadim de Waart-Hottart while the officers were attempting to execute a search warrant at a remote property in Porepunkah, Victoria.
A third officer was seriously injured during the alleged ambush.
He evaded police for seven months before Monday, when officers ambushed a remote property about 200km from the site of the August shooting.
Mr Bush said it would have been difficult for Freeman to get the location where he was found and it is not known at this stage when or how he got there from Porepunkah.
“We’re very keen to learn who, if any, but I’m sure some (people) actually assisted him in getting away from Porepunkah to where he was located,” he said.
“But that’s a very important part of what comes next to determine that, and if anyone was complicit, they will be held to account.”
Mr Bush said there had been no confirmed sightings of the fugitive until Monday.
“We had over 2000 leads, some of them were a number of sightings, none that were confirmed. In fact, they were eliminated. But we had a lot of information that came to us and I do thank the public for providing that information to us.”
The families of the Freeman’s victims were the first to be notified of the outcome of Monday’s police operation, Mr Bush said. Freeman’s family had also been told.
