A massive manhunt continued for a fourth day in rural Victoria, Australia, after a heavily armed suspect allegedly killed two police officers and wounded a third during an ambush at his property on Tuesday, August 26, 2025.
The shooting occurred at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time when 10 armed officers arrived at a property on Rayner Track in Porepunkah, a town of just over 1,000 people located 186 miles northeast of Melbourne. The officers were executing a search warrant related to alleged historical sexual offenses when they came under fire from the property owner.
Victoria Police identified the victims as Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35. Thompson, who joined the force in 1987, was approaching retirement after spending years with the major fraud and crime squads before transferring to Wangaratta in 2007. De Waart, who began his career at the Victoria Police Academy in late 2018, had recently been posted to Wangaratta and lived in Melbourne.
A third officer was shot in the lower body and underwent surgery. Hospital officials confirmed he remained in stable condition at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne as of Thursday morning. Seven other officers at the scene were physically unharmed but described as traumatized by the incident.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush identified the suspect as 56-year-old Dezi Freeman, also known as Desmond Filby. Bush indicated that the officers “were murdered in cold blood” when they encountered the heavily armed offender. Freeman fled on foot into the surrounding dense bushland immediately after the shooting, carrying multiple firearms including long guns.
Authorities deployed hundreds of specialist officers, helicopters, ground teams, and at least one armored vehicle to search the mountainous terrain surrounding Freeman’s property. The Australian Federal Police confirmed it was providing tactical response team assistance at Victoria Police’s request, while New South Wales police also offered support.
Freeman has a documented history of association with so-called sovereign citizen beliefs, a movement whose adherents falsely believe they are not subject to government laws and authority. Court documents from a 2024 Victoria Supreme Court case show Freeman referred to police officers as “Nazis” and “terrorist thugs” while challenging a suspended driver’s license. During that hearing, he compared seeing police to “an Auschwitz survivor seeing a Nazi soldier.”
In 2021, Freeman made headlines when he attempted to privately prosecute then-Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews for treason and fraud. He was arrested while protesting outside court before the hearing. The suspect also appeared in a 2021 video filmed at Wangaratta Magistrate’s Court, where he unsuccessfully attempted to arrest a magistrate and police officers while representing himself.
Police arrested Freeman’s 42-year-old wife and a 15-year-old boy Thursday evening during raids at a Porepunkah property. Both were interviewed and released pending further investigation, with Bush confirming that potential charges may follow. Initial reports suggested Freeman had taken his family hostage, but police later confirmed his partner and children were safe and accounted for.
The search focuses on steep, heavily wooded terrain in the Australian Alps, with local residents describing the area as extremely challenging for tracking operations. Misty-Rose Wilson, a local business operator, characterized the search as “a needle in a haystack” due to thick bush, steep inclines, poor weather conditions, and low visibility.
Authorities warned residents in and around Porepunkah to remain indoors and avoid traveling to the area until Freeman is captured. Public buildings, the local airfield, and the primary school were placed in lockdown Tuesday, with students eventually allowed to return home after hours of containment.
The incident has drawn comparisons to a 2022 attack in Queensland where two police officers were killed by Christian extremists at a rural property. That siege lasted six hours before the three shooters, described as conspiracy theorists who hated police, were killed by officers in what was later classified as a terrorist attack.
Gun deaths remain relatively rare in Australia following the implementation of strict firearm regulations after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, where a lone gunman killed 35 people. The last Australian police officer shot and killed on duty was Brevet Sergeant Jason Doig in November 2023 in South Australia.
Police Association Victoria Secretary Wayne Gatt described the impact on law enforcement, noting that police stations across Victoria fell silent when news of the shooting broke. Deputy Commissioner Russell Barrett emphasized that authorities were deploying every available asset in the manhunt and would not rest until Freeman was apprehended.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged the threat posed by extremist views, noting similarities to the 2022 Queensland incident. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan praised the officers’ bravery while confirming that significant resources were being deployed to the search operation in northeast Victoria.
