An adventure-loving local detective planning his retirement and a senior constable on temporary assignment in Victoria’s alpine region have been identified as the victims of a shooting in Porepunkah.
Detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson, 59, and senior constable Vadim De Waart, 35, were on Wednesday named by police as the officers allegedly killed by Dezi Freeman on Tuesday morning.
Police continued their search for Freeman on Wednesday, who was seen running into the bush alone immediately after the shooting. Police have described the search area as very wide, and said Freeman is “heavily armed” and “understands bushcraft well”.
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The two police officers had been part of a group of 10 police – made up of local officers and members of the sexual offences and child abuse investigation team – who entered a property in Porepunkah, in north-east Victoria, on Tuesday morning to serve a search warrant before allegedly being fired upon by Freeman. Another officer was also injured.
Thompson joined Victoria police in 1987 and worked across several roles, including general duties at Collingwood station and on the major fraud and state crime squads. He took up his most recent post with the Wangaratta criminal investigation unit in July 2007.
In a statement, police described Thompson as an “adventurer [who] enjoyed all things outdoors”, and who regularly took his friends and colleagues on trips with him.
They said Thompson had found a “new purpose” with his partner, Lisa, who he was with for six years before his death and was “planning in earnest for his imminent retirement”.
“Together with Lisa, Neal had built a new home and had a long list of tasks planned after he knocked off work for the last time,” police said.
De Waart joined the force in December 2018 and worked at St Kilda station for three years, before joining the public order response team in 2023. Police said he was on temporary assignment in Wangaratta at the time of his death.
Described as an “eternal optimist and avid traveller”, De Waart was fluent in French, Spanish, Flemish and English and was a keen scuba diver, motorcyclist and gin collector.
“[He] always picked up a local bottle on his overseas adventures for his large collection at home,” police said. “While travelling was his passion, Vadim was extremely proud to have purchased his first home in Melbourne in recent years.”
He is survived by his parents, Carolina and Alain, who live in his native Belgium, and younger brother Sacha, who lives in Switzerland. His family in Melbourne includes his aunts, Jacqueline and Maria; uncles, Shane and Peter; and cousins Christopher, Jeremy, Laura and Tessa.
The Victoria police chief commissioner, Mike Bush, said the loss of the two officers had “struck at the heart” of the force, the broader policing family and the community of Porepunkah.
“In the coming days, weeks and months, we will all grieve this loss and deeply miss our colleagues and friends who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty,” Bush said.
“It is not lost on me that our members take a risk every time they go to work to protect the Victorian community. While we all live with the knowledge that the worst could happen on a shift, we don’t expect it to.”
Bush said he would visit the injured officer at the Alfred hospital on Wednesday. The man is in stable condition after surgery.
Search continues for suspected gunman
Earlier on Wednesday, Bush named Freeman, also known as Desmond Filby, 56, as the suspected gunman.
Bush said there had been no confirmed sightings of Freeman, who once called police “terrorist thugs” and has a history of association with pseudolaw and “sovereign citizen” ideas, since the attack.
“Sovereign citizens” or pseudolaw adherents often have a range of conspiratorial beliefs, including that a country’s laws have become illegitimate and the government is corrupted, leading them to reject its authority.
He said police had not recovered any firearms from the property where the shooting took place, leading officers to believe Freeman had taken them all with him.
“We believe he has longarms, powerful firearms, multiple firearms,” Bush said.
Bush would not confirm reports Freeman may have also taken police firearms.
He said police had set up a cordon around a “very wide search area” but conceded Freeman “understands bushcraft well”, which presented a “challenge”.
“He knows that area. Even though we have experts in the area, he will know that area better than us, so we’re putting in every expert, supported by local knowledge as well,” Bush said.
He said “anything’s possible” – including that Freeman had set up traps in the bushland, with officers “well briefed to be on the lookout”.
Bush refused to provide further details about the nature of the warrant police had attempted to execute on Tuesday, out of respect for “victims involved”. He said 10 officers were required due to the “large area” the search warrant covered.
“Part of executing a search warrant is searching. It’s a large area, so it required a large number of staff to search the area and also search for technology … that would provide evidence to the offences they were investigating,” he said.
Bush said as the manhunt for Freeman continued police would remain at the crime scene and search other locations nearby.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, have led tributes to the officers killed.
Allan said there were “huge resources” being put on the ground in north-east Victoria. New South Wales police have also offered support.
“We continue to provide every support necessary to the work of Victoria police as they deal with this individual who perpetrated this most evil and awful of criminal act,” Allan said.
“There is no doubt that this is a community that is feeling the enormity of how their beautiful country town yesterday – that peaceful, wonderful country lifestyle – was not just shattered, but was put into the most awful of spotlights possible.”
