Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with
Speaker 1: the Front's afternoon headlines. A cop killer shot dead while
Speaker 1: brandishing a dead officer's gun. Today, Victoria police have finally
Speaker 1: got their man, in a dramatic end to self proclaimed
Speaker 1: sovereign citizen Desi Freeman's violent life. Earlier this year, Victoria
Speaker 1: police were indicating they believed Desi Freeman, who went on
Speaker 1: the run in August twenty twenty five after shooting dead
Speaker 1: two officers, could be dead. In fact, he was very
Speaker 1: much alive, hiding out in some of Australia's most rugged country.
Speaker 1: Freeman was a survivalist who believed normal laws didn't apply
Speaker 1: to him, and when Detective Leading Senior Constable Neil Thompson
Speaker 1: and Senior Constable Vadim dwar Hottat showed up to execute
Speaker 1: a sir to warrant related to alleged historical sex offenses,
Speaker 1: he allegedly shot them dead. A third officer was seriously wounded.
Speaker 1: That was in August twenty twenty five at Freeman's makeshift
Speaker 1: home a bus on his property near the town of
Speaker 1: Poor Punker. The search for Freeman was the biggest tactical
Speaker 1: operation ever undertaken in Australia, including searches of caves, mines,
Speaker 1: huts and waterways using dogs, drones and search and rescue specialists.
Speaker 1: There was a one million dollar reward for information that
Speaker 1: led to Freeman's arrest or the location of his body.
Speaker 1: In the end, Freeman had made his way almost to
Speaker 1: the New South Wales border to the tiny Murray River
Speaker 1: town of Wohlwa. State Operations Group tactical officers spent the
Speaker 1: night staking out a property reportedly owned by a couple
Speaker 1: of Filipino origin, and reportedly threw flashband grenades into the
Speaker 1: place where Freeman was hiding a structure the police have
Speaker 1: described as between a caravan and a shipping container, before
Speaker 1: engaging him in a firefight that was about eight thirty
Speaker 1: am on Monday. There are reports Freeman was shot dead
Speaker 1: while holding a police issue weapon belonging to one of
Speaker 1: the officers he'd murdered, Neil Thompson. Commissioner Mike Bush said
Speaker 1: the body had to be formally identified in the hours
Speaker 1: immediately after the shooting before he could publicly confirm that
Speaker 1: it was in fact Freeman, but Bush also said the
Speaker 1: families of the two deceased. Police officers had been informed
Speaker 1: of the shooting. Victoria's police union said its members said
Speaker 1: they would find Freeman, and they did. The coroner and
Speaker 1: the police's Professional Standards Unit will now examine the circumstances
Speaker 1: that led to Monday mornings shooting. Something else they'll be
Speaker 1: investigating is whether anyone assisted Freeman. That would be a
Speaker 1: criminal offense, although police say no one else has been charged.
Speaker 1: In our show notes, you can see links to all
Speaker 1: our live coverage of this rolling story at the Australian
Speaker 1: dot com dot plus. Come back to the front first
Speaker 1: thing in the morning for our close look at the
Speaker 1: other huge news of the day, The federal government's finally
Speaker 1: taking action to bring down fuel prices and ensure supply.
Speaker 1: But was it all too slow? Jeff Chambers, our political editor,
Speaker 1: will be here. That's right here, Tuesday morning.