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Agence France-Presse

Australia posted a US$659,000 reward on Saturday for the arrest of a gunman on the run for a 12th day after allegedly killing two police officers.
Police in the eastern state of Victoria said they were offering the “life-changing” amount in their hunt for the 56-year-old fugitive, Desmond Freeman.
Freeman is accused of opening fire when police arrived at his home in Victoria with a search warrant.
The shooting killed 59-year-old detective Neal Thompson and 35-year-old senior constable Vadim de Waart. A third officer had surgery after being wounded in the lower body.
More than 450 police have been searching in vain for the alleged shooter, a reported conspiracy theorist who has bush survival skills, after he fled into dense forest near the small town of Porepunkah.
Now, Victoria police say they are offering up to A$1 million (US$659,000) for information leading to Freeman’s arrest – a record sum in the state for the detention of a suspect.
“There is no doubt that up to a million dollars is a life-changing amount of money for anyone and has the potential to completely change their circumstances,” said the Victoria police homicide squad’s detective inspector Dean Thomas.
“This figure recognises the seriousness of this violent offending and our commitment to locating Freeman as soon as possible so that he is no longer a risk to the broader community,” he said.

Police clarified an earlier statement that they believed someone in the community might be helping Freeman to elude them after the August 26 shooting.
“At this time, there is nothing to indicate that Freeman is being assisted by a specific person. However, given the difficult terrain and the requirement for various supplies, this remains a possibility,” they said in a statement.
“Police are also open to the possibilities that he remains at large alone or is dead as a result of self-harm.”
Freeman was last seen wearing dark green tracksuit pants, a dark green rain jacket, brown boots and reading glasses.
“Police believe Freeman remains armed and advise members of the public not to approach him,” they said.
As part of their search, police raided a property last week and briefly detained the gunman’s wife, Amalia Freeman, and their teenage son.
Amalia Freeman has issued a public statement urging her husband to surrender to police.
Australian media say Freeman is a self-professed “sovereign citizen”, referring to a movement that falsely believes it is not subject to laws passed by the government.


Police have not divulged the cause for the search warrant that 10 officers tried to execute on the day of the shooting.
But they have said the police team at his home included members of the sexual offences and child investigation squad, and that during the shoot-out, police fired at the suspect but apparently did not wound him.
Deadly shootings are relatively rare in Australia, and police fatalities are even rarer.
The latest gunshot death listed in a national memorial to fallen police shows one officer was shot and killed in 2023.
A ban on automatic and semi-automatic weapons has been in place in Australia since a 1996 mass shooting in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in which a lone gunman killed 35 people.


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Australia

Australia posts US$659,000 reward for gunman’s arrest over killing of 2 police officers

The coffin of police officer senior constable Vadim de Waart being carried following his funeral service in Melbourne on Friday. He was one of two Victoria Police officers killed in a shooting at Porepunkah in Victoria’s north-east last week. Photo: AFP

Suspect Desmond Freeman is sought by Australian police in connection to the shooting incident on August 26 that killed two police officers in Porepunkah, Australia. Photo: Handout via Reuters

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Australian police wait near the scene of a shooting in the state of Victoria, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Police officers patrol the area near a shooting in the high country of Porepunkah in Victoria, Australia on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

A manhunt is under way in the state of Victoria after a gunman ambushed Australian police, killing two officers. Photo: AP

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Police officers oversee the loading of a car that crashed into the Russian consulate in Sydney on Monday onto a tow truck. Photo: Reuters

A police officer stands guard outside the gates of the Russian consulate in Sydney on Monday. Photo: AFP

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Australasia

Desmond Freeman is accused of opening fire when police arrived at his home in Victoria with a search warrant last month


Desmond Freeman is accused of opening fire when police arrived at his home in Victoria with a search warrant last month.


Crime

Victoria

Australia posts US$659,000 reward for gunman’s arrest over killing of 2 police officers

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Desmond Freeman is accused of opening fire when police arrived at his home in Victoria with a search warrant last month

Desmond Freeman is accused of opening fire when police arrived at his home in Victoria with a search warrant last month