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."
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.
Helicopters, dog squads and reinforcements from New Zealand were dispatched to help track Freeman, who reportedly possessed strong bushcraft and outdoor survival skills.
At one point involving around 450 police officers, the manhunt was one of the "most significantly resourced police operations" in Australian history, Bush said.
Police believed Freeman may have evaded capture with the help of locals sympathetic to his anti-authority views.
