Dezi Freeman was a churchgoer who attended Mass just days before he allegedly shot dead two police officers and wounded another in Porepunkah, in Victoria’s alpine region, last Tuesday, according to locals.

Parishioners at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church in Bright – a tourist town about seven kilometres from Porepunkah – recognised Freeman in media coverage of the shootings as the man who often attended Mass with his wife and baby.

Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church in Bright, where Dezi Freeman often attended Mass, was closed on Sunday. Credit: Carolyn Webb

On Sunday, as police continued to search nearby bushland where Freeman reportedly fled, a handful of local Catholics arrived at the church for 11am Mass, braving a cold but fine morning.

However, they found the church

See Full Page