BLOODY END TO THE HUNT: Fugitive Who Slaughtered Two Cops Is Shot Dead After Emerging With a Gun

That’s where we’ll leave today’s coverage.

Read our full report here on how police shot fugitive Dezi Freeman, the man allegedly responsible for the shooting deaths of two officers at Porepunkah, Victoria.

Catch up on everything we know so far about the shooting here and our explainer on who Freeman is here.

And read Nino Bucci’s feature on the seven-month search for Freeman – and the questions that still remain.

Thanks for joining us.

2h ago08.04 BST

Freeman emerged from building with a weapon, commissioner says

Just recapping some of the key elements of the Victoria police chief commissioner Mike Bush’s press conference.

Bush said he was confident officers had acted “professionally”, and he had seen video of the deceased man’s interactions with police.

Police had been at the property about 24 hours. The standoff with the man – believed to be fugitive Dezi Freeman – lasted about three hours. He was shot dead by multiple police at about 8.30am.

Bush told reporters:

It is quite clear to us now that the deceased was given every opportunity to resolve this peacefully and did not take that option. I have seen a video of the deceased leaving the building and presenting a firearm at our offices. That action took away any discretion our officers had to resolve this peacefully.

“We tried everything possible, every tactical option that we have, to encourage the deceased to end this in a safe and peaceful manner. They weren’t taken.

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Commissioner Mike Bush at the scene where Dezi Freeman was shot dead in Thologolong, Victoria. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Bush was asked about how Freeman appeared before officers.

He did have something over his shoulders. The video I’ve seen, he then pulled a firearm from underneath that and presented it at our people.

Bush was asked whether police had spoken to the owner of the property where Freeman was found, and whether they were a person of interest in the ongoing police investigation.

We’re still trying to locate and speak with that person. We know who that person is, but we’re yet to speak with them.

Police are confident the man shot by officers this morning was Freeman. But he has not yet been formally identified. That identification is expected with “24 to 48 hours”. During the three-hour standoff with police, Freeman gave information to officers which confirmed his identity, Bush said.

During those negotiations, the deceased did share information to confirm who he was. And it ended about three hours later.

3h ago07.47 BST

There is no one else under arrest at the moment over Freeman’s alleged crimes and his seven months on the run. However, Bush says, charges against other people are “quite possible in the future”. Police are investigating how the man believed to be Freeman survived on the run for so long undetected.

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Remind me in May

3h ago07.45 BST

Bush says the man killed will be formally identified within the next 24 to 48 hours.

3h ago07.44 BST

Police say they had ascertained the identity of the man shot – he had confirmed his identity – during the three-hour standoff before he was killed. However, police are still being very careful in their language, before the deceased is formally identified, referring to him as the man they believe to be Freeman.

3h ago07.42 BST

Asked whether the deceased man was armed with the service weapon of one of the officers slain last August, Bush tells reporters: “It is quite possible that the weapon that is at the scene is one of our officers’ weapons.”

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Chief commissioner Mike Bush at a press conference. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

3h ago07.41 BST

Bush says he has heard “mixed reports” over whether the deceased man fired at police. The weapon the man was carrying has been secured. Bush says a “forensic examination” will take place “to ascertain whether shots were fired by the deceased from that weapon”.

3h ago07.39 BST

Bush says he has seen a video which showed the man believed to be Freeman emerging from a building holding a weapon. That action, the commissioner said, “took away any discretion our officers had to resolve this peacefully”.

3h ago07.38 BST

Victoria police commissioner Mike Bush has begun speaking to reporters in Wodonga, on the Victoria-NSW border.

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Chief commissioner Mike Bush speaks to the media. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

3h ago07.25 BST

Helen Haines, the independent member for Indi, has thanked Victoria police, and everybody involved in the search for Dezi Freeman since the shooting of two police officers in August last year. Haines’s regional electorate takes in the town on Porepunkah.

Over the past six months, a dark cloud has hung over the Porepunkah community.

News this morning of the death of Mr Freeman draws this prolonged and devastating incident to a close.

This will come as a relief to the whole community – especially to the families of Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, and their colleagues.

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Independent member for Indi Helen Haines. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP