Two more men have been arrested as police continue their investigation into Porepunkah shooter Dezi Freeman's months on the run after he killed two police officers in August 2025. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
In a statement on Tuesday, police also revealed they believed Freeman travelled between Victoria and New South Wales in the seven months between the shootings at Porepunkah and when he was found on a remote property in Thologolong, near Walwa on the Victoria-New South Wales border, on 30 March. The seven-month search for Freeman ended when he died after being shot by police on the Thologolong property.
Police said it was believed he "received assistance from a number of different people during that time." Detectives arrested the two men on Tuesday after searching seven properties across Victoria and NSW as part of Operation Summit, the investigation into Freeman's movements after the 2025 shootings.
Police said warrants were served just after 6.20am at rural properties in Buckland and Stanley, in the high country near Porepunkah, as well as Lucyvale, further north-east towards the NSW border. At the same time, warrants were executed by NSW police at four homes in Greenwich Park, Tarlo and Wombeyan Caves, all near Goulburn, and Umina Beach on the NSW Central Coast.
A 64-year-old Lucyvale man was arrested in Wodonga and will be interviewed by police, while a 47-year-old Wombeyan Caves man was arrested in Greenwich Park on unrelated outstanding warrants. The 64-year-old man was interviewed and has been released pending further investigation. Police said there were no further arrests at this stage but they were speaking with a number of people at the seven properties. They said searches of those properties continued on Tuesday afternoon and that they had seized "a range of electronic devices".
It comes after the arrest of two other men in May by Taskforce Summit detectives. They were later released without charge.
Freeman shot and killed Det Leading Sen Const Neal Thompson, 59, and Sen Const Vadim De Waart-Hottart, 35, and injured a third officer at a property in Porepunkah in August. The two police officers had been part of a group of 10 police – made up of local officers and members of the sexual offences and child abuse investigation team – who entered the property, about 210km north-east of Melbourne, on 26 August to serve a search warrant before being fired upon by Freeman.
Freeman, a 56-year-old with a history of association with pseudolaw or "sovereign citizen" ideology, fled into the bush heavily armed, and a high-profile manhunt began.
Det Insp Anthony Gasparini from Taskforce Summit said since the fatal shooting in Porepunkah in August last year, police had been working "tirelessly to piece together the events of the day" as well as Freeman's subsequent movements. "The investigation does not stop simply because Freeman was located," Gasparini said. "We said from the outset that if alive, Freeman would likely need significant support to leave the area and survive over the following months. To that end, we are looking to identify and hold to account those people who provided that support to harbour a wanted fugitive and have potentially committed serious offences themselves. We are keen to speak to anyone who may have information about Freeman's movements in the seven months leading up to his death, including those in the areas where warrants have been conducted today."
He urged anyone who may have knowledge of Freeman's movements between August 2025 and March 2026 to contact Crime Stoppers Victoria.