Why Dezi Freeman wouldn’t let police in – and the terrifying moment officers knew they had no choice but to break down the door

The real reason Dezi Freeman refused to let police through the door on the day they arrived to serve their warrant can now be revealed after Daily Mail was given exclusive access to the extraordinary 27-minute siege vision.

Ten officers surrounded the property near Freeman’s rural home in Porepunkah, Victoria, on August 26 to execute a search warrant linked to allegations of historical sexual assault on a minor. 

Freeman barricaded himself inside the bus with his wife and two-year-old, flatly refusing to open the door.

It is now clear the fugitive gunman knew that the item officers would find inside his home would almost certainly condemn him to years behind bars. 

Freeman had already lost his firearms licence, which had been stripped from him after a string of public rants in which he hurled abuse at police and authority figures and posted chilling threats online. 

But, rather than stepping back from violence, the father-of-three took his obsession underground, building his own weapon in secret.

Detectives now believe Freeman had manufactured a homemade gun, a deadly device pieced together with the help of online blueprints and black market parts.

Under Australian law the penalties are severe. In some states even downloading and possessing the plans carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in jail. 

In Victoria, the act of actually making a firearm without a licence can carry up to 10 years behind bars, while possessing one without a licence carries penalties of up to four years. 

Familiar with the legal system and his own rights, Freeman knew exactly what would happen if he was caught. Friends say this explains the defiance he showed when officers first arrived.

‘Dezi tells everyone he knows the law better than anyone else and he would have known he was done for if it was found,’ one said.

‘He would not cooperate, he would not hand over weapons, and he would not surrender because going to jail and having his freedom taken from him was what he feared the most.’

The looming threat of potential incarceration, combined with his deep-seated hatred of authority, appeared to make Freeman desperate in the video seen by Daily Mail. 

Even after he was handed the warrant to search his property, he continued to argue for his rights. He claimed the warrant was fake and insisted they had his name and address wrong.

‘You go by many different names,’ one officer responded to his escalating demands.

‘It looks like you live here to me,’ another added.

In the video, Freeman moved out of sight of officers, claiming he was reading the warrant and had ‘one more page to go.’

A senior officer could then be heard raising her concerns, whispering that she was worried he may ‘destroy’ something. 

Her fellow officer quickly agreed, claiming they had been left with ‘no choice’ but to get into the bus.

It is then that Detective Senior Constable Neal Thompson stepped into place with the crowbar and prised off the door window. 

Within seconds, two gunshots could be heard and Detective Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart were both shot dead at point-blank range. 

The video then ends.

A third officer would later be confirmed as seriously injured, but it is unclear when that shooting took place. 

Freeman took weapons from the deceased officers and fled into the rugged alpine bushland.

About 450 police officers and the Australian Defence Force continue to hunt for Freeman as the search enters its third week.

Police have also searched more than 100 properties in the surrounding towns and have received hundreds of tips and pieces of new information since announcing a $1million reward.