MELBOURNE
Police searched the Australian bush on Wednesday for a heavily armed 56-year-old gunman still on the run a day after allegedly killing two officers and wounding a third.
Officers hunted through the night for the man identified as Dezi Freeman, who fled on foot into densely forested terrain after a shootout on Aug. 26 morning in the northeast of Victoria state.
Police said they deployed “every resource” to find him, setting up a wide cordon at the scene, a rural property with a house and a bus in the small town of Porepunkah.
Freeman, described by local media as a radicalized conspiracy theorist, has survival skills and knows the area better than his pursuers, police said.
“The suspect for this horrific event is still at large,” Victoria police chief commissioner Mike Bush told a news conference.
“I can assure everyone that we are pouring every resource into this search for this person. We must find him,” he added.
“He is very dangerous. He’s killed two police officers and injured a third.”
Police urged people in the area to stay indoors until further notice and education authorities closed the local primary school during the hunt.
Officers spoke with the man’s partner and children to ensure they were safe and to rule out any hostage situation.
Police believe Freeman has multiple “powerful” firearms, Bush said.
