Dezi Freeman search enters day seven – as police show no sign of closing in on the alleged cop killer

• Dezi 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 seven 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.
• Freeman’s wife, Amalia Freeman, publicly pleaded for him to safely surrender and end the ordeal in Victoria’s high country.

Police are throwing everything at their bushland hunt for alleged gunman Dezi Freeman, who has been on the run for seven days after two officers were killed.

Freeman’s wife Amalia Freeman pleaded for him to safely surrender and put an end to the ordeal in Victoria’s high country.

Freeman has been at large since August 26 following an incident at his property in Porepunkah, about 300km northeast of Melbourne.

The 56-year-old self-described sovereign citizen is accused of killing Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35.

Victoria’s Police Minister Anthony Carbines conceded the search was placing a strain on resources but everyone was doing everything possible to bring it to a conclusion.

‘We’re throwing everything at it,’ he told reporters.

Ms Freeman said she did not hold anti-authority views and would co-operate with police in any way she could.

Ms Freeman and her 15-year-old son were arrested at a Porepunkah home last week.

Both were interviewed and later released without charge.

‘We echo the requests of the Victoria Police for the swift and safe conclusion of this tragedy,’ she said.

‘Please Dezi, if you see or hear this, call 000 and arrange a surrender plan with the police.’

She offered her condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the officers killed, saying she was grieving for their loss.

Ms Freeman urged anyone harbouring or helping her husband, or anyone with a snippet of information, to contact police.

It is alleged Freeman shot three officers undertaking a warrant at his property.

Police are probing whether a 61-year-old man arrested at Bright, just outside Porepunkah, was associated with Freeman.

The man was allegedly found with weapons and cannabis.

He has been charged with possessing an imitation firearm and a drug of dependence.

The man told Seven News he had never met Freeman, who was a member of a 45,000-strong online group he founded that was dedicated to sustainability and largely focused on hunting.

‘It’s not right at all. I’ve never met him, not at all,’ he said.

He recounted armed police knocking on his door.

‘I looked up once and I thought, shit, and I saw all of the hands on the triggers – Jesus Christ, and I thought, don’t even move,’ he said.

‘I stuck me bloody hands up and I’m waiting for the bullets to come howling in on me.’

More than 400 police officers from Victoria, plus interstate colleagues, have been battling at times blizzard-like conditions as part of the search.