The fugitive who was on the run for more than seven months after killing two police officers was left looking like “Swiss cheese” following a tense stand-off in Victoria’s northeast.

Police have formally identified Dezi Freeman as the man shot by officers at a shipping container in Victoria’s northeast on Monday.

The fugitive is reported to have been shot more than 20 times by police about 8.30am on Monday in Thologolong, marking an end to a seven-month manhunt for the double cop killer.

On Wednesday, police confirmed the man shot at the rural property was Desmond (Dezi) Freeman.

A police source told the Herald Sun the cop killer was shot more than 20 times in the stand-off, which spanned three hours.

“He looked like Swiss cheese,” the source told the outlet.

Officers from the Special Operations Group (SOG) used a BearCat “claw” to coax the fugitive out of the container he was hiding in, launching flash bangs into the structure after he refused to leave peacefully.

Freeman’s was Victoria’s most wanted man.
The fugitive made a desperate call to an associate days after he killed two police officers in Victoria’s High Country in August last year.

The fugitive is understood to have made the call days after he fatally shot two police officers and seriously injured a third who were completing a search warrant at his residence in Porepunkah on August 26, 2026.

Police intercepted the call, where Freeman told the associate he “f**ked up”.

However, police were unable to track Freeman’s whereabouts from the call, the Herald Sun reports.

Dezi Freeman was shot dead on Monday after a seven-month manhunt. Picture: NewsWire/ Jason Edwards
Police searching for the double cop killer were eventuallyled to his hide-out in Victoria’s northeast after tracking a person closely linked to the fugitive who made repeated trips between Porepunkah and Thologolong.

The fugitive fled into dense bushland armed with a weapon and had not been seen for more than seven months.

Police received more than 2000 pieces of information in the 216-day search for Freeman.

Officers received a tip-off about Freeman’s whereabouts about 5.30am on Monday in Thologolong on the Victoria-NSW border – about 150km from where the wanted man was last seen in Porepunkah.

He was found in a hiding place about 150km from where he killed two officers. Picture: Google Maps

A former friend was ‘surprised’ by his open hiding place. Picture: Jason EdwardsPicture: Jason Edwards
‘Surprised’: Former friend speaks out

Speaking to A Current Affair, former soldier and friend to Freeman, Bruce Evans, said he spoke to the fugitive before he murdered the two officers.

“I wasn’t actually surprised that it ended like that because I know him and I don’t think he would have wanted to spend the rest of his life in jail,” he said.

Freeman was shot more than 20 times after a tense three-hour stand-off. He was forced out of the shipping container with a BearCat “claw”.

He was dressed in nothing but a blanket and believed to be armed with a handgun stolen from one of the officers he killed in the Porepunkah shooting.

Signs of Freeman’s life in hiding were frozen in time as officers combed through the crime scene on Monday and Tuesday.

The large white shipping container where Freeman was holed up before he was gunned down featured a large green awning, held up by poles, with two camping chairs placed underneath.

Underneath the makeshift awning sat a portable stove and pot, with a single white plate sitting on a fold-out table alongside other cooking utensils and scissors.

Mr Evans said he was “surprised” that Freeman was hiding in an area so close to a main road.

“I would have thought someone that was Australia’s most wanted wouldn’t be out in the open like that,” he told A Current Affair.

The search spanned more than seven months. Picture: Jason Edwards
Car’s repeated trips to Freeman’s hiding place tracked

Police tracked a car linked to Freeman that had been repeatedly travelling between Porepunkah and the container hide-out.

It’s understood this is what led officers to Freeman’s location.

Officers were able to follow the car’s movements after a tip-off from a member of the public, the Herald Sun reports.

Police are now working to determine if anyone helped harbour the fugitive. NewsWire / David Geraghty
Examinations are now under way to determine if Freeman had assistance from others while he made the journey from Porepunkah to the hide-out along the Murray River.

“We’re going to track backwards, work backwards from yesterday and find out to work out who did assist him and those people, when identified, will be held to account,” Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said.

Anyone who harboured or helped transport the fugitive may face up to 20 years in prison.