Cassie Zervos

Well, Desi Freeman was a sovereign citizen of

He identified in the sovereign citizen group.

He was a man who was anti-government, anti-authority, who didn't work, thought he was above the law.

He's the kind of person who would be pulled over by police for speeding and he'd get out his mobile phone and start antagonising them.

And he really sort of became quite well known in the Pawpunka region during the COVID-19 pandemic because, of course, that's when things really kicked off with the sovereign citizen movement.

You know, he refused to get his kids vaccinated.

So, you know, they'd do welfare checks at his Pawpunka homes to make sure everything was OK there.

He would refuse to get the vaccination himself.

He would refuse to wear the mask.

He would refuse to abide by the lockdown rules.

So...

He was quite well known to police, but not to a level of what we saw on August 26 last year.

If they thought that he was ever to be violent towards them, they would have called in for extra backup during that search warrant then.

Neil Thompson, one of the officers who was tragically shot dead on that day, he had so many dealings with Desi Freeman over the course of the years, so much so he was supposed to retire just days before that shooting.

And he thought, you know what, I'm going to help my colleagues out.

I know this man.

I've dealt with him before.

It'll be fine and I'll lead the way.

And as we've since learned, that was a fatal decision.

But