Freeman ‘understands bushcraft well’, police commissioner says
Bush said police believe Freeman is thought to understand “bushcraft well”, presenting a challenge for those searching for him:
Our understanding of him is he understands bushcraft well, which provides a challenge for us. But we keep an absolutely open mind on what options are open to him. And those options will inform our approach.
Authorities conducting a manhunt overnight did so in difficult weather conditions. But Bush said the team was “absolutely determined and focused on finding this person.”
They are oblivious to those conditions when they have a mission.
Key events
Support from colleagues ‘the best medicine’ for injured officer, head of police association says
Wayne Gatt, the head of the Victoria Police Association, said he spoke to the officer who was seriously injured yesterday. Gatt told RN Breakfast earlier the man was “clearly devastated” by the events, and had to deal with his own recovery while mourning the loss of his colleagues:
I can only imagine how he’s feeling. He’s having to deal with that at the same time as dealing with his physical injuries, which I know he received some treatment for yesterday. And I just hope that his continued recovery is faster.
I know some of his colleagues have had some messages from him this morning, which is great. It’s great to see because the best medicine is the support of your colleagues. It works for us. I don’t know, it might be a police thing … but it does work for us knowing that the policing community is supporting you.
And I’m sure that will be, in no small dose, something that he’s drawing heavily on.
Nino Bucci
Local lawyers pay tribute to senior officer killed at Porepunkah
Legal sources have told Guardian Australia that the senior officer who was killed, a 59-year-old detective, was particularly well regarded in the region for his kindness and fairness.
“He was just a lovely bloke, it’s a tragedy,” one lawyer said.
He was so close to retiring, he’d booked tickets for an overseas holiday and everything. Awful stuff.
The same lawyer had regularly seen Dezi Freeman around the Wangaratta courts, though never represented him or dealt with him. Freeman often represented himself in court.
“He was certainly a frequent flyer, that’s for sure,” the lawyer said.
Victoria police commissioner Mike Bush addresses media amid search for Porepunkah shooting suspect – video
Police have a “wide cordon” set up as part of a “very wide search area” for Dezi Freeman, Victoria police chief commissioner, Mike Bush, told reporters on Wednesday morning. “We are pouring every resource into this search for this person.”
Head of Victoria police association says members ‘enormously sad’ after death of colleagues
Wayne Gatt, secretary of the Victoria Police Association, said earlier this morning the group’s members were all “enormously sad” after yesterday’s events at Porepunkah.
Gatt told RN Breakfast:
I mean, I don’t know if there’s an easier way to describe it. They’re all people underneath that uniform, and they’re just enormously sad …
Hundreds of them are having to suppress the way they’re feeling emotionally as they turn up to work and really get on with this dangerous, but so important, job of holding this offender to account.
Albanese says government takes threat of sovereign citizen ideology seriously
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the federal government takes seriously the threat of ideologies like sovereign citizenship. He was asked about the government’s consideration of fringe movements on ABC Radio Melbourne this morning:
Mike Burgess, the director general of Asio, has been warning about far-right extremism. We have seen that spread and it is difficult to defend against individuals.
We know that that is the case, that this person, Dezi Freeman, who remains on the run is the latest advice that we have received, has [allegedly] engaged in an attack in which two police officers have lost their lives, a third has been seriously injured.
Officers were on site to execute warrant related to Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation teams
Benita Kolovos
Bush said earlier the 10 officers who attended Freeman’s property were there to execute a warrant related to the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation teams, known as Socit.
He told reporters:
So the team that went there were local officers and members of the sexual offences and child investigation team. I’m not going to go into any further detail, because there are victims involved in the matter and it would be very unfair and unwise for me to talk about that any further.
Injured officer will recover, but has ‘significant’ injuries
Bush said he hopes to visit the officer injured in the shooting yesterday, saying he believes they are out of surgery but “significantly damaged”.
He said the officer will recover, but more information on their condition will come later.
Freeman ‘understands bushcraft well’, police commissioner says
Bush said police believe Freeman is thought to understand “bushcraft well”, presenting a challenge for those searching for him:
Our understanding of him is he understands bushcraft well, which provides a challenge for us. But we keep an absolutely open mind on what options are open to him. And those options will inform our approach.
Authorities conducting a manhunt overnight did so in difficult weather conditions. But Bush said the team was “absolutely determined and focused on finding this person.”
They are oblivious to those conditions when they have a mission.
Freeman thought to have ‘multiple firearms’
Bush said police believe Freeman has many weapons with him:
Long arms, powerful firearms, multiple firearms. We haven’t recovered any of his firearms from the scene.
Police have ‘wide cordon’ set up as part of ‘very wide search area’
Bush said the best experts in the country are doing “everything” they can to find Freeman. Authorities have not had any confirmed sightings of him since yesterday’s events.
We have all the assets in play. We have not had any confirmed site sightings of him at the moment … Anything is possible. He knows that area, even though we have experts in the area, he will know that area better than us. So, that’s why we’re putting in every expert and supported by local knowledge as well.
Bush added Victoria police had spoken with their counterparts in NSW, who are on standby if needed.
