Aussies are divided over the fatal shooting of Dezi Freeman, with some saying he avoided justice in court and that he may actually be seen as a martyr.
Freeman, 56, was killed by cops after he was found in a shipping container near Walwa, near the NSW-Victoria border, at 8.30am on Monday.
Freeman was on the run for seven months after he shot dead two officers and injured a third while they were serving a warrant at his Porepunkah property in Victoria.
Australians immediately praised the efforts of police after news broke he had finally been found.
‘Well done, Victoria Police,’ one wrote.
Some argued he should have faced trial, while others shared their disbelief that Freeman had actually been caught, demanding to see police bodycam footage.
‘He should have been captured and made to stand trial. Police are not judge, jury and executioner,’ one added.
Macquarie University criminology expert Dr Vince Hurley told Daily Mail that Freeman had taken the ‘coward’s way out’.
‘So far as avoiding justice, he took the coward’s way out by not accepting his responsibility for his actions,’ he said.
He warned Freeman’s death could see him idolised within some fringe communities.
‘The sovereign citizen will see him as a martyr given he avoided police,’ Dr Hurley said.
‘It is quite an achievement in their eyes.’
Freeman subscribed to the sovereign citizen movement’s ideology.
Adopters of this worldview usually believe the government is illegitimate and that the law does not apply to them.
Dr Hurley added there was only one group of people who could answer whether or not Freeman faced the justice he deserved.
‘The only ones than can actually answer this are the victims’ families,’ he said.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34, were the two officers killed by Freeman.
Former homicide detective Charlie Bezzina said Freeman was seen as a ‘lead sovereign citizen’ and that allowing him to become a martyr would be bad news.
‘But what he has done and speaking that way, we don’t want him to be revered in any way,’ he said.
Daily Mail understands police tried to negotiate with Freeman before he was killed.
The manhunt for Freeman become one of the biggest police operations in the country, with officers scouring bushland and offering a $1million reward.
Dr Hurley said he was ‘surprised’ that Freeman had ‘lasted this long’.
‘Given his social isolation, not many would have sympathy for him locally therefore lack of support for his survival. He survived through snow and summer heat,’ he said.
Dr Hurley added that the fact Freeman was found only two hours from Porepunkah suggests he may have had associates.
‘If he was in a container – and it depends on if it was abandoned or not, or owned by someone who knew him – but I’m thinking, given it’s been six months, it’s very possible be had assistance of some type,’ he said.
‘I’d do think that person or persons could be charged with harbouring him (if that is the case).’
Dr Bezzina agreed it was possible Freeman may have received help.
He said the distance from Porepunkah ‘doesn’t surprise’ him.
‘He may well have been allegedly harboured at that location. I’m yet to find some more details,’ Mr Bezzina said.
Asked if Freeman could have been making his way as far north as possible, given Walwa’s proximity to the Victoria-New South Wales border, Mr Bezzina disagreed.
‘I don’t believe he was going to flee further north. His associations would have been limited had he wanted to go further north,’ he said.
‘He’s had what, four or five months to do that, but he was obviously staying put because of his limited association, and probably feeling safe where he was.’
Mr Bezzina said the investigation does not stop now that Freeman has been shot, adding that if anyone is suspected of harbouring the fugitive, police will act.
‘They’ll be reacting quite quickly. They’ll be following right through and making further inquiries at that particular location,’ he said.
‘It just doesn’t stop by him being shot dead. It’s a matter of finding why, how long has he been here, and talking to people around the whole area as to what their knowledge was.’
Victoria Police confirmed on Monday morning that Freeman had been shot dead.
‘A man has been fatally shot by police at a property in northeast Victoria this morning as part of the operation to locate Desmond Freeman,’ a spokesman said.
‘No police officers were injured during the incident.’