VICTORIA & NSW. — Police this morning executed seven warrants at properties across Victoria and New South Wales as part of the ongoing investigation by Taskforce Summit into the movements of Desmond Freeman after he fatally shot two on-duty police in Porepunkah last year.
Warrants were executed by Victoria Police at three rural properties in Buckland, Stanley and Lucyvale from just after 6.20am on Tuesday, June 16.
At the same time, warrants were executed by NSW Police as part of Strikeforce Namberta, in coordination with Taskforce Summit investigators, at four residential properties in Greenwich Park, Tarlo, Wombeyan Caves and Umina Beach.
Searches of those properties remain underway, and police have seized a range of electronic devices from the addresses.
A 64-year-old Lucyvale man was arrested in Wodonga and will be interviewed by police.
A 47-year-old Wombeyan Caves man was also arrested in Greenwich Park on unrelated outstanding warrants.
There are no further arrests at this time.
Police are speaking with several occupants at the various premises.
Today’s warrants form part of the Taskforce Summit investigation into the movements of Desmond Freeman following an incident at his Porepunkah property on August 26 last year.
About 10.30am that morning, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart were fatally shot by 56-year-old Freeman during a confrontation at the Rayner Track address.
A third officer was also seriously injured after being shot in the lower body.
The officers were executing a search warrant as part of an investigation by the Wangaratta Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team.
Freeman left the address following the fatal shooting and despite several large-scale searches undertaken in the Porepunkah area, he was not located for over seven months.
On March 30, a confrontation occurred between police and Freeman at a rural property in Thologolong which resulted in him being fatally shot.
The shooting occurred at the property shortly after 8.30am following a stand-off of several hours with police, including members of the Special Operations Group and detectives from Taskforce Summit.
Police rendered assistance; however, Freeman died at the scene.
No one else was present at the property.
No police were physically injured during the incident.
The initial fatal shooting in Porepunkah and the subsequent fatal shooting in Thologolong are now subject to coronial investigation.
Detectives are keen to speak to anyone who may know Freeman’s movements between August 2025 and March 2026.
It is believed he travelled between Victoria and NSW and received assistance from a number of different people during that time.
Crime Stoppers Victoria 1800 333 000 or www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
