Police expand Taskforce Summit searches across two states
Police have carried out a fresh series of raids in Victoria and New South Wales as investigators continue to examine how fugitive Dezi Freeman moved and survived for months after the fatal shooting of two Victorian police officers at Porepunkah last year.
The latest operation, reported by Nine News on Tuesday, involved seven properties across the two states. Victoria Police searched rural addresses at Buckland and Stanley, near Porepunkah, and at Lucyvale, near Walwa. At the same time, NSW Police executed warrants at homes in Greenwich Park, Tarlo, Wombeyan Caves and Umina Beach.
Investigators said electronic devices were among the items seized during the searches. A 64-year-old Lucyvale man was arrested in Wodonga and was expected to be interviewed by police. A 47-year-old Wombeyan Caves man was also arrested in Greenwich Park on unrelated outstanding warrants.
Focus on alleged assistance after Porepunkah shootings
The raids form part of Taskforce Summit, the investigation established after Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart were shot dead while on duty at a Rayner Track property in Porepunkah on August 26 last year. A third officer was seriously injured after being shot in the lower body.
Freeman, 56, fled the property after the shooting and remained the subject of an extensive police search for seven months. He was ultimately located on March 30 at a rural property in Thologolong, where police said he was fatally shot after failed negotiations.
Taskforce investigators are now trying to determine where Freeman went during the period between the Porepunkah attack and his death, and whether any person provided support that helped him avoid detection. Police have stressed that the inquiry is not only about reconstructing his movements, but also about identifying whether serious offences were committed by anyone who may have harboured or assisted him.
Taskforce Summit Detective Inspector Anthony Gasparini said police had long believed Freeman would probably have needed significant help if he was to leave the immediate area and survive for months while wanted by authorities. He said investigators wanted to hear from anyone with information about Freeman’s movements, including people in the communities where the latest warrants were conducted.
Communities and families still seeking answers
The Porepunkah shootings prompted one of Victoria’s most intensive policing operations in recent years and deeply affected the local community. The deaths of Thompson and de Waart-Hottart also placed renewed attention on the risks faced by frontline officers attending rural properties, where distance, terrain and isolation can complicate operational responses.
Police say the current phase of the investigation is intended to help provide answers for the families of the slain officers, the injured officer, colleagues who responded to the incident and residents who lived for months with the uncertainty of an armed fugitive search.
The inquiry is also expected to feed into the broader coronial process. That process will examine the circumstances of the officers’ deaths, Freeman’s period on the run and the events that led to his fatal confrontation with police in Thologolong.
Authorities have urged anyone with relevant information to contact Crime Stoppers, saying reports can be made confidentially. No findings have been made against any person connected to the latest searches, and police have not alleged wrongdoing by the owners or occupants of all properties searched. The investigation remains ongoing.
