Even in Australia, Porepunkah is a town few would have heard of before this week. Fewer still could pronounce it.
Nestled at the base of densely wooded mountains in the Australian Alps, it is home to about 1,000 people and beloved for its wineries, bushwalking and peaceful atmosphere – something which has now been shattered.
Choppers whir overhead. Kevlar-clad officers methodically patrol the town. Armoured vehicles roll down its streets. Porepunkah is now the centre of a massive manhunt for a heavily-armed man that police allege murdered two of their own in cold blood.
Officers went to Dezi Freeman's property on the outskirts of the rural Victorian town on Tuesday, with a warrant to search it. They were met with gunfire, before their alleged attacker – a "sovereign citizen" with a well-documented hatred of authority – vanished into nearby bushland.
The shooting – which appears hauntingly similar to an ambush of police in Queensland three years ago – has shocked the town and revived questions over how the country deals with growing sects of anti-government conspiracy theorists.
