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The person who tipped Australian police off to Dezi Freeman’s location may be $1.2 million richer after the fugitive was killed on Monday.
Police were executing a search warrant at a remote property in Victoria seven months ago when Freeman opened fire and killed two officers.
Constables Neal Thompson andVadim de Waart-Hottart died and a third police officer was seriously injured during the shootout.
Freeman fled and had been on the run since.
Police offered a A$1m ($1.2m) reward for information leading to the arrest of the 56-year-old. It is the largest reward ever offered in Victoria for an arrest.
Then last week police received a tip-off about Freeman’s location near Walwa on the New South Wales-Victoria border, reported multiple Australian outlets.
Police arrived at a property covered in shipping containers, barrels and tarpaulins. After a three-hour stand-off a man was shot and killed.
The deceased has not been formally identified but was believed to be Freeman, police said.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said police encouraged the man to surrender but he chose not to.
Following “the deployment of tactics, he then exited the building. There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he did not”, Bush said.
“We strongly believe - yet to be confirmed - that he was armed.”
Bush said any information about the reward would be kept confidential indefinitely.
Bond University associate professor in criminal justice and criminology Terry Goldsworthy said Freeman’s disappearance sparked one of the most extraordinary manhunts in Australian history.
The hunt involved hundreds of police and crime experts, drones, helicopters and specialist police dogs, said Goldsworthy in a piece for the Conversation.
Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush said it was the largest manhunt in Victoria's history. Photo / 7News, YouTube
The case took a turn in February when police announced they strongly believed Freeman was dead and he had committed suicide.
“The fact police actively continued to search for Freeman despite stating he was likely dead suggests the statement may well have been a tactic to lure him out,” Goldsworthy said.
“Using a ploy such as this can entice a fugitive into thinking police may be reducing the intensity of the search.”
How the hunt for Desmond Freeman ended in Walwa. Photo / The Conversation
Freeman’s eldest son responded to his father’s death hours later on Facebook.
“I am not here to defend my father’s actions because I know what he did was wrong,” Koah Freeman said, reported Nine News.
“Just bear in mind that to you’s [sic] my father was a cop killer, but to me that’s still my father who raised me to be the man I am today.
“This is news that I’ll be grieving about while some of you disgusting humans celebrate online for me to watch.”
Police Association Victoria said in a statement that Freeman’s death would not lessen the trauma but was a step forward for its community.
“Days like today offer a sobering reminder that policing happens while you sleep, when the media spotlight on the investigation dims, and everything seems lost and forgotten.”
