Ray taught Dezi Freeman about the bush. Later, he watched in dismay as his friend became ‘radicalised’

Ray Kompe says he became ‘good friends’ with suspected Porepunkah shooter Dezi Freeman years ago, before watching him fall in ‘with the wrong crowd’. Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

Last month Dezi Freeman fled into the thick bushland of Victoria’s high country. Despite 450 police officers, members of the Australian defence force, paramilitary vehicles and helicopters tracking the fugitive, he has managed to keep hiding.

On Tuesday, it will be two weeks since Freeman disappeared into the Mount Buffalo national park, after allegedly shooting and killing two police officers and injuring a third at his residence on Rayner Track in Porepunkah, 300km north-east of Melbourne. The funeral for Sen Const Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 35, was held on Friday at the Victoria police academy, with hundreds of mourners including the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and premier, Jacinta Allan, attending. A funeral service for Det Leading Sen Const Neal Thompson, 59, will take place on Monday.