Porepunkah police shootings
On the morning of 26 August 2025, police officers Neal Thompson and Vadim De Waart-Hottart were killed in a shooting at a property near the regional Victorian town of Porepunkah, Australia, while attempting to execute a warrant. A third officer was injured. The alleged shooter, Dezi Bird Freeman, a self-proclaimed sovereign citizen known to police, fled into the dense bushland of Mount Buffalo National Park.
A manhunt involving hundreds of police officers ensued, with Victoria Police supported by interstate police forces, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Defence Force. Freeman has been on the run for days, with no confirmed sightings since the shootings.
The number of officers involved in the manhunt was unprecedented in Australian history and there is a reward for information leading to his arrest, which is the largest reward ever offered in Victorian history.
Background
Deaths from gun violence, especially among police, are rare in Australia. The country has had strict laws restricting gun access since 1996, when 35 people were killed in the Port Arthur massacre.Dezi Freeman
Desmond Christopher Filby was born in either 1968 or 1969. He attended school in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley until 1977, when his family moved to the regional city of Wodonga. By 2003, Filby had adopted the name Dezi Bird Freeman; a surname popular in the sovereign citizen movement. By profession, Freeman worked as a freelance photographer. He was interested in bushcraft and had hiked in the Mount Buffalo National Park since he was 16; his son described it as his "second home."From at least 2019, Freeman actively posted content on social media that was hostile to police and authority figures, including comments that "the only good cop is a dead cop" and " all need to be exterminated." The same perspective was conveyed in a 2024 court appearance over the cancellation of his driver's licence, wherein he labelled police "friggin Nazis" and "terrorist thugs". Freeman appeared often at the County Court in Wangaratta on a range of charges, and was known for having a hostile attitude and "baroque" defences. In an interview after the shootings, Freeman's estranged nephew said Freeman "...always had this hidden anger about him". In 2020, his firearms licence was cancelled.
Sources contacted by The Age described Freeman's views as having become more extreme during the COVID-19 pandemic. He protested vaccines and lockdowns, and refused to wear masks, rejecting the validity of the exercise of any state power. Freeman was associated with a 2021 attempt to bring a private prosecution of treason against former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, which received news attention. He had previously appeared in the media on an episode of A Current Affair in 2018, concerning a dispute with neighbours. By 2025, he was speculating that the end times were approaching.
As of August 2025, Freeman was living with his wife and two children at a property near Porepunkah, a rural town northeast of Melbourne. Freeman's oldest son, aged 20, had moved out a year earlier. The site, known as Four Gully Farm, was a compound owned by a couple which housed multiple people. At least one member of the couple shared his anti-government views, and subscribed to COVID-19 conspiracy theories. The Freemans' home consisted of a converted bus, a pole marquee, and shipping containers. The family regularly attended church.
Shootings
Around 10:30 am on 26 August 2025, ten Victoria Police officers, made up of local officers and members of the sexual offences and child abuse investigation team, attended the Four Gully Farm property to execute a warrant against Freeman. A prior risk assessment had concluded that the police tactical group the Special Operations Group would not be required. The warrant was part of a firearms prohibition order, relating to a sexual offence against a child under the age of 16 alleged to have taken place within the previous two years.After the police arrived at his bus, Freeman, inside with his wife and two-year-old child, began arguing with and insulting the officers. Victoria Police would later describe Freeman's wife during the incident as uncooperative, and that she could be charged with obstruction. Police attempted to pry open the door. When Freeman refused to open it, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson opened a window, and entered feet first. Soon after this, two gunshots were heard. Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart were fatally shot.
The 27 minutes leading up to this were captured on a video filmed by a Freeman family member; after the two shots were heard, the recording ends. At some point after this, a third officer a male detective, was shot in the leg, and he hid under the bus for nearly an hour waiting for help to arrive. Freeman tried to shoot a fourth officer, a female sergeant, but his homemade shotgun failed. Police officers fired shots in his direction but did not wound him. He subsequently escaped alone and on foot into the bush after taking the two dead police officers' handguns. He was believed by police to be armed with a homemade shotgun, a rifle and two police-issue handguns. Police described his dress as including dark green tracksuit pants, a dark green rain jacket, brown boots, and reading glasses.
The police SOG arrived by helicopter from Melbourne before midday. Local residents were advised to stay indoors, and Porepunkah Primary School was temporarily placed under lockdown.
Manhunt
Nearly 500 officers were deployed to the Porepunkah area to search for Freeman, to investigate the shootings and to provide community assurance. These included members of Victoria Police, bolstered with assistance from all interstate police forces, and from the Australian Federal Police. Assistance was also provided by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Defence Force, as well as from other emergency services organisations.Cold, snowy and windy winter weather conditions made the initial stages of the search difficult. The shootings occurred in the foothills of Mount Buffalo, a rugged, alpine region with dense bushland containing many natural caves, disused mineshafts and potential hideouts such as abandoned structures, huts and gorges, further hindering the search. Locals speculated that Freeman, an experienced bushman, could survive in the region for weeks.
A no-fly zone, prohibiting all aircraft including drones, was established over the search area and was extended multiple times. As of 29 September, it remained in place over Porepunkah. Parks Victoria also closed Mount Buffalo National Park.
Freeman's wife became the focus of media attention. On 28 August, she was arrested with her 15-year-old son in a raid on a Porepunkah property. They were subsequently interviewed and released pending further inquiries. Four days later, she publicly urged her husband to surrender, and offered support to Victoria Police, saying she "does not hold anti-authority views", and expressing her condolences and sorrow for the deaths of the officers.
On 6 September, police announced a reward for information leading to Freeman's capture, the largest ever offered in Victoria for an arrest. By 29 September they had received more than 1400 tips from members of the public. Several unconfirmed sightings led to tactical operations in and around the national park.
On 12 September, 17 days after the shooting, the police SOG in their search for Freeman were supported by police tactical officers from all Australian state and territory police tactical groups, and New Zealand, conducting the largest police tactical operation in Australian history, involving over 125 officers. Two days later, warnings against travelling to the Porepunkah area were lifted, and residents were advised to remain vigilant.
As September ended, Victoria Police announced they had scaled back the search to around 200 officers, with numbers fluctuating as needs arose elsewhere. By then, police had searched over and hundreds of properties, both with and without the consent of owners. The manhunt had extended beyond the proximate area to locations including Goomalibee, a town east of Porepunkah. As of 2 October, the search continued to focus on Mount Buffalo National Park, which remained closed to the public.
Throughout the manhunt, several theories of Freeman's condition were put forward. Days after the shooting, police stated they believed local community members were assisting Freeman avoid capture, and set up a site in the nearby town of Bright where members of the public could leave tips. They also offered Freeman a plan for his surrender, although criminology academic Liam Gillespie stated it was unlikely to be accepted due to Freeman's sovereign citizen beliefs. Other theories put forward included that he had killed himself, or was alive outside the Mount Buffalo area. If he was inside the area, it was speculated he may be hiding in a cave, hut, or mineshaft that he may have prepared in the event of an emergency. As of 20 September, police were skeptical that he had left Victoria. In early October, cadaver dogs from the Queensland Police Service began searching for Freeman.
On 6 October, Freeman's brother theorised that Freeman had perished days ago on a mountain near his own residence.
On 14 October, Parks Victoria reopened parts of the Mount Buffalo National Park to the public. Police asked park users who had trail cameras in the park to check their cameras for any recordings of Freeman.
On 24 October, Parks Victoria fully reopened the Mount Buffalo National Park to the public. On the same day, Victoria Police said they had now received "1700 pieces of intelligence" which included tips from members of the public and that they would form a new taskforce called Taskforce Summit to continue the search for Freeman.
On 9 November, police fired dozens of shots into bushland surrounding Mount Buffalo in a renewed effort to locate Freeman. They attempted to replicate and analyse the echoes of gunfire reported on the day of the shootings.
In the first week of December, police spent five days searching of the Mount Buffalo National Park for Freeman's body with the assistance of two New South Wales Police Force cadaver dogs. The area had earlier been searched on 12 September by police tactical officers when they were acting on the assumption that he was alive.
On 2 February 2026, Victoria Police announced that investigators do not believe Freeman is alive. Commencing on 2 February, over 100 police and volunteers will conduct a five day search of the Mount Buffalo National Park for Freeman including using a NSW Police Force cadaver dog.