2026年3月30日 / 美国东部时间上午7:24 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/法新社
澳大利亚警方周一表示，他们击毙了一名涉嫌杀害两名警察的逃亡者，结束了对该国头号通缉犯之一长达7个月的追捕。
德斯蒙德·弗里曼于去年8月在维多利亚州一处乡村住宅射杀两名前来搜查的警察后，逃入茂密的丛林地带。
过去7个月来，数百名警察在该地区崎岖的地形中追踪弗里曼，投入大量资源开展澳大利亚史上规模最大的追捕行动之一。
澳大利亚警察局长迈克·布什表示，警方在维多利亚州乡村一处“极其偏远”的房产内的一辆拖车里找到了弗里曼，在他拒绝投降请求后将其击毙。
“就目前我掌握的所有信息来看，这次枪击是合理的，”布什对记者表示。
“当时出现了对峙局面，我们给他提供了和平投降的机会，但他没有抓住。”
他补充道，州验尸官随后将确认死者身份和死因。
警方在一份声明中表示：“尽管该男子尚未得到正式身份确认，但警方相信很可能就是弗里曼。”
两名当地居民告诉法新社，弗里曼在新南威尔士州和维多利亚州边境附近的托洛洛隆一处房产内被枪击。
他们表示，该房产的主人已经离开数周。
“这里完全脱离电网，老实说我不认为有人会偶然路过这里。你必须知道具体位置才行，”托洛洛隆居民贾斯敏·蒂斯说道。
“那里没有固定住宅，房主住在一堆拖车、集装箱和旧车里，”她补充道。
另一位当地居民、养牛场主迈克·加德告诉法新社，很难相信弗里曼能在这么长时间里不被发现。
警方表示，他们尚未与房产主人取得联系。
当地媒体将弗里曼描述为一名阴谋论者，以及所谓“主权公民”运动的成员，该运动错误地认为自己不受法律约束。
根据法庭文件，弗里曼在墨尔本法院就超速处罚提出抗辩期间，曾称警察为“该死的纳粹”、“盖世太保”和“恐怖暴徒”。
据《悉尼先驱晨报》报道，在2024年一场关于吊销其驾照的上诉听证会上，弗里曼告诉法庭：“哪怕只是看到警察或警车……就像奥斯威辛集中营幸存者看到纳粹士兵一样。”
这名现年56岁、被称为“德齐”的男子逃进了遍布废弃矿井的国家公园。
警方出动了直升机、搜爆犬队以及来自新西兰的增援力量，协助追踪拥有出色丛林生存技能的弗里曼。
警方认为弗里曼持有武器且极其危险。
布什表示，这场最多时有约450名警察参与的追捕行动，是澳大利亚历史上“投入资源最多的警方行动之一”。
“勇气与英勇”
警方认为，弗里曼可能在同情其反权威观点的当地人帮助下躲过了抓捕。
“如果没有外界协助，他很难抵达藏身之处，”布什说道。
警方曾悬赏100万澳元（约合68.5万美元）——这是最高额度的悬赏——征集有助于将其逮捕的线索。
去年8月，警方突袭弗里曼位于波庞帕克小村庄的住宅时，他向警方开火。
他杀害了59岁的侦探尼尔·汤普森和35岁的高级警员瓦迪姆·德瓦尔特。当时布什表示，两名警员“遭到袭击者冷血谋杀”。
另有一名警官下身中弹受伤。
2025年8月26日周二，澳大利亚维多利亚州波庞帕克高地枪击现场附近待命的警察。西蒙·达林格/澳大利亚联合通讯社 via 美联社
维多利亚州警察协会表示：“今天，我们不会为一名懦夫的殒命而反思。”
“我们将缅怀我们牺牲的同僚，以及每一位为了社区不懈追踪至此的警员。”
尽管搜查令的具体原因尚未公开，但警方当时表示，搜查队包括性犯罪和儿童调查科成员。
根据国家警察纪念网站的数据，在去年8月的枪击事件之前，澳大利亚上一名在执勤中被枪杀的警察是2023年在南澳大利亚州遇害的。2022年，两名警察在昆士兰州一处乡村住宅被基督教极端分子枪杀。
这三名仇视警察的阴谋论枪手在维安比拉地区长达6小时的对峙后被警方击毙。
Fugitive accused of killing 2 Australian police officers is shot dead after 7-month manhunt
March 30, 2026 / 7:24 AM EDT / CBS/AFP
Australian police said Monday they shot a fugitive wanted for killing two officers, ending a seven-month manhunt for one of the country’s most-wanted criminals.
Desmond Freeman fled into dense bushland in August last year after shooting and killing two police officers who came to search his rural home in Victoria state.
Hundreds of police have pursued Freeman through the region’s rugged terrain over the past seven months, pouring resources into one of Australia’s largest manhunts.
Police tracked Freeman to a caravan parked on a “very remote” property in rural Victoria, police commissioner Mike Bush said, shooting him after he refused pleas to surrender.
“Everything I know at this point tells me that this shooting was justified,” Bush told reporters.
“There was a standoff. There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he did not.”
The state coroner would now confirm the identity of the body and cause of death, he added.
“While the man is yet to be formally identified, police believe it is likely to be” Freeman, police said in a statement.
Two local residents told AFP Freeman had been shot at a property in Thologolong, near the border of New South Wales and Victoria states.
The property’s owner had been away for several weeks, they said.
“The place is off the grid entirely. I honestly don’t think it’s a place you just stumble across. You have to know where it is,” said Thologolong resident Jasmine Teese.
“There’s no house there. The man who resides there lives in a collection of caravans, containers and old cars,” she added.
Another local resident, cattle farmer Mike Gadd, told AFP it was “hard to believe” Freeman had remained undetected for so long.
Police said they had yet to speak to the owner.
Local media described Freeman as a conspiracy theorist and member of the so-called “sovereign citizen” movement, which falsely believes it is not subject to the law.
While fighting a speeding penalty in a Melbourne court, Freeman referred to police as “frigging Nazis,” “Gestapo” and “terrorist thugs,” according to court documents.
During a 2024 hearing to appeal his suspended driver’s license, Freeman told a court that “even the sight of a cop or a cop car … it’s like an Auschwitz survivor seeing a Nazi soldier,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The 56-year-old — known as “Dezi” — escaped into a national park littered with disused mineshafts.
Helicopters, dog squads and reinforcements from New Zealand were dispatched to help track Freeman, who reportedly possessed strong bushcraft and outdoor survival skills.
Police considered Freeman armed and dangerous.
At one point involving around 450 police officers, the manhunt was one of the “most significantly resourced police operations” in Australian history, Bush said.
“Courage and bravery”
Police believed Freeman may have evaded capture with the help of locals sympathetic to his anti-authority views.
“It would be very difficult for him to get to where he was without assistance,” Bush said.
They offered a AU$1 million ($685,000) reward — the largest possible — for information that helped bring him into custody.
Freeman opened fire on police as they raided his home in the small village of Porepunkah in August.
He killed 59-year-old detective Neal Thompson and 35-year-old senior constable Vadim De Waart. At the time, Bush said the officers “were met by the offender and they were murdered in cold blood.”
A third officer was wounded in the lower body.
Police wait near the scene of a shooting in the high country of Porepunkah in the state of Victoria, Australia, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. Simon Dallinger/AAP Image via AP
“Today, we won’t reflect on the loss of a coward,” said the Police Association of Victoria.
“We will remember the courage and bravery of our fallen members and every officer that has doggedly pursued this outcome for the community.”
While the reason for the search warrant has not been released, police said at the time the team included members of the sexual offences and child investigation squad.
Before the August shooting, the last police officer to be shot and killed on duty in the country was in 2023 in South Australia state, according to the National Police Memorial website. In 2022, two officers were shot dead by Christian extremists at a rural property in Queensland state.
The three shooters, conspiracy theorists who hated the police, were shot and killed by officers after a six-hour siege in the region of Wieambilla.