Victoria’s top cop has revealed the conversation shared between fugitive Dezi Freeman and tactical officers before he was gunned down after being on the run for more than seven months.
Double cop killer Freeman was forced out of his hiding place with a BearCat “claw” in a tense three-hour standoff in Victoria’s northeast on Monday morning.
Police received a tip-off about Freeman’s whereabouts about 5.30am on Monday in Thologolong on the Victoria-NSW border – about 150km from where the wanted man was last seen in Porepunkah.
The tip to police led to a tense three-hour standoff with the cop killer, who was hiding inside a shipping container surrounded by cars.
Speaking to Nova on Tuesday, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said there was a pivotal moment they knew they had he right guy.
“We appealed for nigh on three hours for him to come up, come out and give himself up,” he said.
Bush said Freeman spoke to police in the three-hour standoff, but refused to co-operate with officers.
“He said enough during that conversation to confirm he was the person we were looking for,” he said.
He explained the officers who received the tip-off on Monday morning were “very calm” and methodical in their approach to reaching Freeman.
“The early hours when we began the negotiation with them, and he told us enough to identify himself, that’s when we really believed we were in the right place with the right person,” he said.
“No one wanted to have any doubt about where the person responsible for this brutal killing of two police officers was, and seriously injuring one of our other fine officers.
“So the fact that we are no longer in doubt about where he is has brought that sense of closure to everyone.”
Heavily armed officers from the Special Operations Group swarmed the remote location on Monday morning, surrounding the structure in Bearcats as they attempted to get Freeman to surrender.
Bush said Freeman was offered the opportunity to exit the shipping container peacefully, but refused to do so.
“It’s quite clear to us now that the deceased was given every opportunity to resolve this peacefully, and did not take that option,” he told reporters on Monday.
“We tried everything possible, every tactical option that we have, to encourage the deceased to end this in a safe and peaceful manner. They weren’t taken.”
After three hours of trying to persuade Freeman to exit, officers in a BearCat used a “claw” – located at the front of the tactical vehicle – to pierce the side of the shipping container and filled the area with a gas or capsicum spray to coax him out.
Anthony Albanese summed up his response to Freeman’s death with one word.
“Good, in a word,” he told ABC Melbourne, calling Freeman a “reprehensible criminal”.
Asked if it was “really good when anyone is killed despite their crime”, the Prime Minister said: “I just don’t have any sympathy for him. That’s my position.”
He went on to say Freeman “always was going to be brought to justice and it’s clear that he was always going to fight it out”.
“So he made the decision to murder these police officers, and he made the decision to try to fight it out and to not give himself up or go through a legal process,” Mr Albanese said.
“That’s a decision that rests solely with Dezi Freeman, and he’s [got] the mentality of the sovereign citizens.
“The head of ASIO made very clear warnings about what this ideology represents. They don’t respect any processes. They regard the police and government and our entire society as not being legitimate, and they place themselves outside it, and they represent a risk to others.
“And Dezi Freeman’s ideology led him to murder, in cold blood, two police officers.”
Freeman then exited the container in nothing but a blanket and a gun he stole from one of the officers he murdered in August.
“I have seen video of the deceased leaving the building and presenting a firearm at our officers,” Bush said on Monday.
“That action took away any discretion our officers had to resolve this peacefully; of course, having said that, the independent investigation will look at all aspects.”
Freeman was shot dead by police at 8.30am, ending a seven-month saga that gripped the nation.
The fugitive’s death comes more than seven months after he fatally shot two police officers and seriously injured a third in Porepunkah in Victoria’s high country.
Freeman, formerly known as Filby, killed Detective Leading Constable Neal Thompson and Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart and injured a third officer who were trying to complete a search warrant in August 2025.
The 56-year-old fled into the bushland while armed with guns and had not been seen since.
Police received more than 2000 pieces of information in the 216-day hunt for the cop killer.
An A$1 million ($1.1m) reward was offered to anyone who provided information that led to his arrest.
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