Suspected double cop killer Dezi Freeman previously posed as a firefighter to sneak through emergency police roadblocks to evade detection and defy the law.
Freeman, 56, remains on the run after he allegedly gunned down Detective Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35, at his rural property in Porepunkah in the Victorian High Country on Tuesday.
Ten officers attended his home to serve a warrant for historic sex assault charges involving a minor, when the father of three allegedly opened fire, killing the pair and wounding a third.
Freeman allegedly stole the dead men’s service pistols and seized a police radio before fleeing into the bush, and has not been seen since.
Freeman has now been on the run for four days as 450 heavily-armed police, special operations units and air support scour the surrounding mountains in one of the largest manhunts in Australian history.
At the heart of Freeman’s ideology is his identity as a self-proclaimed sovereign citizen, an anti-authority movement whose followers insist that government rules, police orders and even the courts have no power over them.
For them, the law of the land is irrelevant, taxes are optional, and orders from authority are treated as nothing more than suggestions.
Former friends warn Freeman will continue to evade capture because he is a seasoned manipulator who has spent years attempting to outwit the authorities.
Dezi Freeman once brazenly posed as a firefighter to sneak through emergency roadblocks
Heavily armed police, special operations units and air support scour the mountains
Police have set up roadblocks in the area
‘This man thinks he’s untouchable,’ one former friend told Daily Mail Australia.
‘He will try every trick in the book and thrives on bending rules and humiliating government agencies.’
According to the friend, his most brazen stunt came during the Black Summer bushfires of 2020, when whole communities were evacuated and the Mount Buffalo around Porepunkah was under emergency warning as flames tore through the region.
But while thousands were fleeing, Freeman was plotting a way in.
A keen photographer, Freeman became as obsessed with taking photos of the devastation as he was with defying the official keep-out orders.
When stopped at roadblocks, he is alleged to have gone to extraordinary lengths and used his old firefighter’s uniform to evade the roadblocks.
Freeman had quit Victoria’s volunteer Country Fire Authority in 2014 and should not have kept or worn his uniform in the years afterwards.
‘He dressed up as a firefighter, an emergency service worker, during a state of emergency,’ his old mate revealed. ‘And he got through.’
Once inside the restricted zones, Freeman allegedly moved among real emergency crews as fires still raged in the background, snapping photos while others risked their lives.
‘He didn’t stop boasting about it afterwards, telling anyone who would listen and showing off his photos,’ the former friend added.
While thousands were fleeing, Freeman (pictured outside court) was plotting a way in to blocked areas
Freeman shared this photo with others across social media groups
Freeman took a collection of photos including this one
Once inside the restricted zones, Freeman allegedly moved among real emergency crews and journalists as fires still raged to take bushfire photographs (this image was not taken by him)
The search for Freeman on day four
‘He carried on like he’d pulled off some kind of military operation. In his head, it made him a legend.’
The friend claims it was during that time that many locals became more wary of him.
‘He had no care at all for the firefighters or police who would have had to risk everything to save him if he got trapped,’ the friend added.
‘That’s him, reckless and obsessed with proving he is always one step ahead.
‘After that I think a lot of people who thought he was just a harmless know-it-all and a bit of a cooker started to worry what he would do next.’
