- 4 months ago
WATCH: Victoria Police Chief Commissioner provides an update on the search for Dezi Freeman who fatally shot two police officers in Porepunkah
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00:00Thank you for being with us today. I'm here to give an update on the horrific event at Poupangka yesterday.
00:10I can confirm that the suspect for this horrific event is still at large.
00:16Desi Freeman, also known as Philby, a 56-year-old local who is heavily armed, is still at large.
00:25I can assure everyone that we are pouring every resource into this search for this person.
00:35We must find him. I'll talk more about the community very shortly.
00:40What I can also say is that this is not a hostage situation.
00:45We have met with and spoken with the suspect's partner and children to ensure that they are safe.
00:56I would also like to assure people that we are putting every piece of support around the families of the officers that have passed in this tragic event.
01:16I'm fully aware that a number of people know the identity of those officers, those brave and fine officers.
01:26We will endeavour to share the names and details of those officers later today.
01:36But I think you'll respect the fact that some of them have relatives that are travelling overseas.
01:42And we need to be fully assured that they are across the events and also have every support where they are.
01:51I'd like to also acknowledge the community of Pawpunga and the wider Bright Area.
01:58I want to give you assurance that our people, the Victoria Police and the people we work with, our partner agencies, are there to keep you safe.
02:09We have a large team investigating this crime and we have a large team that are absolutely focused on finding this suspect.
02:25All of our specialist resources are there to make this happen.
02:32I would also like to thank the public, not just from Victoria, but right across the country for the support that they have shown Victoria Police.
02:52It's quite overwhelming and very comforting to know that the public support our police.
03:01We have had messages from the Prime Minister.
03:04The Premier has been very vocal.
03:07All of my Commissioner colleagues from Australia, across the country and across the ditch have sent messages of support.
03:16My last message, as well as assurance to the community of Pawpunga and the wider area, is to be vigilant, keep yourselves safe, please don't go outside if you don't need to.
03:32We will do everything to find this heavily armed individual.
03:36But if you see anything that arouses your suspicion, and you think we need to know, please ring triple zero and tell us immediately.
03:47If you see anything untoward, or if you suspect any other crimes that may be related to this person, please call us on that number.
03:58If you have intelligence around this matter or background, please ring Crime Stoppers.
04:04But please, contact us as soon as possible.
04:09I'll take questions.
04:11How are the family that presented my mind?
04:14The family are distraught, as you can imagine.
04:18But we'll put every support around those good people.
04:22Our officers come to work every day to keep their communities safe.
04:26We always live with the knowledge that the worst could happen, but we don't expect it to.
04:31I know you don't want to go into too much detail about the victims in this case, but can you say whether or not they are serving officers to that local community or not?
04:42Some are.
04:43I won't go into the details immediately, but we're very focused on ensuring that we can share those details with the public later today.
04:55If they are close by, as part of those community members, obviously this is a very tight-knit community.
05:01How much of an impact is that, not just on the family, but broadly the community in general?
05:05This will have an ongoing impact on that community.
05:09And we want to give every support to those people.
05:12We are there for them.
05:14It sounds like the partner of Mr Freeman and the children, if they hand themselves in, was going to arrive at a police station?
05:21Or did police go and visit them in the location?
05:24We understood where they were.
05:25We invited his partner to a police station where we've spoken to her.
05:29We've also met with the children, just so we can sight them and make sure they're safe.
05:33We understand they didn't necessarily go willingly with police?
05:38I think the partner did go willingly to the police station to meet with us.
05:42Is it possible the suspect has flown interstate?
05:44Anything's possible.
05:47We don't have any information to suggest that's happening or has happened, but we are open to every scenario.
05:55We have mitigations and plans in place for every eventuality.
05:59We spoke yesterday about our colleagues across the border in New South Wales.
06:04They are fully briefed.
06:05They are on standby.
06:07And should any information or intelligence be received, they will deploy to that immediately.
06:12Do you still have that perimeter set up?
06:14Yes, we have a cordon.
06:16We have a wide cordon.
06:17We have a very, very wide search area in place.
06:21We have experts, the best in the country, there doing everything we can to find that suspect.
06:29Have police given any more thought of releasing a photo of the suspect to help people identify him?
06:35Yes, absolutely.
06:36That photograph is in the public domain.
06:38I'd actually like to thank the media for getting that photograph out, full profiles of who that person is.
06:45I'm not going to talk to them any further, but the information out there is helpful.
06:50We will put our own out there as well so that the public are absolutely aware of who the person is and what they look like.
06:57Do you see how the suspect has been increasingly erratic in espousing conspiracy theories and hatred of police?
07:02How much of that was known by the police before they arrived at the property?
07:05Well, we had a good profile on that person before we went in, but I'm not going to go into any more detail about that.
07:11Do you have any intel on his whereabouts?
07:13Have thermal imaging cameras?
07:15Police made any sightings?
07:16We have all of those assets in play, but we have not had any confirmed sightings of him at the moment.
07:25Any intel intelligence to suggest he could be in a bunker or anything?
07:30Anything's possible.
07:31He knows that area, even though we have experts in the area, he will know that area better than us.
07:37So that's why we're putting in every expert and supported by local knowledge as well.
07:45Is it possible that he's set up traps anywhere?
07:48Anything's possible.
07:49Our people are used to those sorts of interventions and they're well briefed to be on the lookout.
07:56What's your message to anyone helping him hide out?
08:00Don't.
08:01Don't support this person.
08:04It's very dangerous.
08:04He's killed two police officers and injured a third.
08:09He does not deserve anyone's assistance.
08:12Was there a man arrested yesterday who was known to him?
08:16I'm not aware of any arrests in relation, quite possibly, but I'm not aware of anything in relation to this matter.
08:23Given the man seems to also have a sovereign citizen kind of beliefs, are police appropriately resourced to handle that growing sovereign citizen movement and ideology?
08:34Look, police are well resourced.
08:36I'm not going to go into that person's background or what people believe about that person.
08:40So we understand officers have moved away from the property.
08:45Are you able to, I suppose, give us any intel of where the focus of the search is now for this man?
08:50Well, there's two key things going on at the moment.
08:53One is the crime scene investigation.
08:55So we will remain at that address.
08:57We will remain there very well armed and equipped if he is to return.
09:03But that's in relation to the crime scene that it is.
09:06We also have a search focus that we've spoken about in quite some detail.
09:14They're two separate things, but they work together.
09:17So we will remain there and we are searching other locations nearby.
09:22And we will continue to focus on the densely populated bush area and other dwellings in that location.
09:31What did his wife say to police?
09:33I'm not going to go into that conversation.
09:35Why were 10 police officers sent to his property to execute a warrant?
09:40So the team that went there were local officers and members of the sexual offences and child investigation team.
09:49Why 10?
09:49I'm not going to go into any further detail because there are victims involved in the matter.
09:56And it would be very unfair and unwise for me to talk about that any further.
10:01Can you confirm what firearms you believe he has with him?
10:04Yes, we believe he has long arms, powerful firearms, multiple firearms.
10:09We haven't recovered any of his firearms from the scene.
10:14So we believe that the firearms he used, he is still in possession of.
10:20Did he take a police officer's gun?
10:22I'm not going to go into anything at the moment.
10:24The crime scene is still under search and investigation.
10:29We understand people in town haven't heard anything from police since 6pm last night.
10:32There's also no police in town still.
10:34Do they deserve a little bit more than that?
10:37The community deserve every support from the police.
10:40We're communicating with them 24-7 and I'm going to ensure that that continues.
10:46They said they haven't heard anything since 6pm last night and there's a violent offender on the run.
10:50That would surprise me.
10:53But I will endeavour to do everything to make sure that the public, the community there at Pawpunga are kept totally aware.
11:02And that's one of the reasons I'm standing here, to keep everyone fully briefed and updated on this horrific event.
11:11How did Mr Freeman manage to obey seven other officers?
11:15Did they retreat or did he obey these officers?
11:18No, the other seven officers and I met with them yesterday evening
11:21had to hunker down, shall we say,
11:26until we could get extra resource to ensure that we can extract them in a safe way.
11:31The reason being is we didn't know exactly where our suspect was.
11:37So we had to keep them safe, get specialist resource into the area to extract them in a safe way.
11:43They are, as you can imagine, really traumatised by this
11:48and we're doing everything we can to support them as well.
11:51Were any shots fired as they had to hunker down at the same time?
11:57Is there any suggestion that this offender might be wounded himself as he's running away?
12:02I don't believe he was wounded, but I do believe that we did discharge shots in his direction.
12:09Do you know how many?
12:11I have an idea, but I'm not going to confirm until I've had it confirmed.
12:15Has there been any other evidence, we've already heard about potential thermal imaging,
12:19but is there any other evidence or what K9 has been able to find
12:24to narrow down the search area in any way, shape or form or not?
12:28Look, I totally appreciate the question and people have a thirst for knowledge,
12:32but it's very important that we don't share too much information.
12:36We don't know where he is or whether he has access to media.
12:41So we have to be very conscious of that
12:43as to what we put in the public domain
12:45other than general search techniques.
12:49So I'm sure you'll appreciate that.
12:51But I have experience where people on the run
12:54will find a way to monitor the media
12:56and that assists them in evading us.
13:00So I'm not going to put too much in that domain.
13:02There were reports that this was a bit of a commune.
13:04So were there other people there at the time with police officers?
13:07I don't believe so.
13:08I understand the question.
13:09Definitely a suspect, partner, children.
13:16I'm not aware of other people.
13:19Do you believe he has a phone or any communications device with you?
13:23Again, that's the detail that I'm not going to share at the moment.
13:28And also, just in the past 12 hours overnight,
13:31what was the vanhunt like overnight, especially with that weather?
13:35Oh, it was tough.
13:36Tough going for all of our people,
13:37but they're absolutely determined and focused on finding this person.
13:43They're oblivious to those conditions when they have a mission.
13:47Is it a police believer who can survive long in those conditions?
13:50Our understanding of him is he understands bushcraft well,
13:57which provides a challenge for us.
14:00But we keep an absolutely open mind on what options are open to him,
14:07and those options will inform our approach.
14:11Do you believe his actions were ideologically motivated?
14:16Can you repeat that, please?
14:17Do you believe his actions were ideologically motivated?
14:21Too early to say.
14:24After the shooting, did the offender try to find the other officers who were in hiding,
14:28or did he run off straight away?
14:30Those officers are still being debriefed.
14:32In fact, our number one priority with them is to get them out safely, care for them.
14:38And I understand detailed interviews of those officers have only just commenced.
14:45I think you can appreciate that.
14:47We'll care for them before we extract all the details from them.
14:52You mentioned there's no hostage situation.
14:55Did police believe there was a hostage situation at any point?
14:57We were quite confident that those people were safe from the outset,
15:05but we did have to have it confirmed.
15:08So I know there was a lot of conversation about a hostage situation.
15:12It wasn't our belief, but it was very important for us to confirm for ourselves
15:17by actually meeting with his partner and children to ensure they were safe
15:24and that this was not a hostage situation.
15:27So it did take some time to verify.
15:31You mentioned the reason police were there a little earlier.
15:35If you sent a team of 10 there,
15:38I don't know if it sounds as though there's some details you don't want to get into too much,
15:40but can you maybe elaborate a little bit further?
15:42A team of 10 seems quite significant.
15:44Can you talk us through what you can?
15:46Well, part of executing a search warrant is searching.
15:49So it's quite a large area, so it required a number of staff to search the area
15:54and also search for technology and other things that would provide evidence to the offences
16:00they were investigating.
16:02So one of these officers were intelligence officers as opposed to...?
16:04They were search officers and investigation officers.
16:07Are you able to give us an update on the officer who is in the Alfred current land?
16:13Yes.
16:14I do hope to visit that officer today.
16:17My understanding is that they are out of surgery.
16:22Significantly damaged, but we'll recover.
16:25But we'll get more on that.
16:30But I am keen to visit them today.
16:33Can you let us know if that officer was one of the local ones or one of the local ones?
16:37No. I won't go into that at the moment.
16:39But we will share those details.
16:41Yeah.
16:42Have police advised the local schools and amenities to close today or ongoing?
16:50I'll have to come back to you on the specifics of that.
16:53And we have issued a number of warnings.
16:56I wouldn't be surprised if we have asked schools to remain closed.
17:00It would be quite appropriate.
17:03But what the detail of those directions are, very happy to come back to you on that.
17:10Can I just clarify?
17:10Did all of the town officers enter the premises or did some sort of link it back?
17:16They were in the environment.
17:17So they were on, not necessarily inside the house,
17:23and the adjoining structures.
17:30We've got New South Wales Police on standby.
17:33Do you have any idea if they're going to be called?
17:34Do you know when you might call them in to help?
17:36Look, if we have any intelligence or information to suggest he may have crossed the border,
17:42that information will be shared with them immediately.
17:45But they're definitely on the lookout for anything suspicious themselves.
17:50They're in the area.
17:51We work with them 24-7 on cross-border matters.
17:54So we have a very close relationship with them, obviously.
17:57So they're ready to deploy and they're definitely on the lookout.
18:02Does the force have a description of what the offender was wearing at the time of the shooting?
18:08We do.
18:09We'll get a detailed one to you because that's very important.
18:12And were police body cameras worn at the time or on at the time?
18:16I'm sure they were and they will be downloaded.
18:19Yeah.
18:19That will be part of the investigation.
18:21You touched on speaking with the wife earlier.
18:26Is there any intelligence she was able to share with you that has assisted you?
18:29If there was, I wouldn't be sharing it in this forum.
18:31But thank you for the question.
18:37Thanks so much.
18:39Thank you all.
18:39Thanks for being here.
18:40And thanks for getting this in the public domain.
18:43We appreciate it.
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