[Source: rthk - English News]

Australian police shot dead a fugitive gunman who had been on the ​run for seven months after allegedly killing two police personnel in ‌a remote town in Victoria state, Australian media widely reported on Monday.

Fifty-six-year-old Dezi Freeman, previously known as Desmond Filby, was fatally shot at about 8:30 a.m. on Monday (2130 GMT, Sunday) following ​a three-hour standoff at a rural property in northeast Victoria, the reports ​said.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush declined to formally confirm the ⁠identity of the person shot dead by police pending official identification, but said ​the shooting was justified.

“Everything I know at this point tells me that this shooting ​was justified,” Bush said during a media briefing, adding that no police officers were injured during the incident.

“There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully, which he did not … we’re working ​through the sequence of that. We strongly believe, yet to be confirmed, that ​he was armed.”

More than 450 police officers had been involved in the hunting for Freeman since ‌August, ⁠when he allegedly opened fire on a team of 10 police officers, when they arrived at a property in Porepunkah, about 300 km (186 miles) northeast of Melbourne, to execute a search warrant.

Authorities had offered a A$1 million ($684,700) reward for information leading to ​his capture.

Believed to ​have expert bushcraft ⁠skills and multiple powerful firearms, Freeman fled into bushland at Mount Buffalo National Park following the shooting. Local media have described ​him as a “sovereign citizen”, a term used for individuals who ​regard the ⁠government as illegitimate.

The Age newspaper reported Freeman was found and shot dead by police at a large rural property in the remote Walwa area in Victoria, about 180 ⁠km (112 miles) ​northeast of Porepunkah.

Satellite imagery showed the property was ​studded with multiple buildings, two shipping containers, a caravan and several derelict vehicles, the report said.