Accused Porepunkah gunman interviewed from 'paradise' in 2018

The accused gunman who allegedly shot dead two police officers in rural north-east Victoria was previously interviewed by A Current Affair.

Dezi Freeman appeared on the show in 2018 alongside his wife Mali and two young sons over claims they were being harassed and intimidated by their neighbours.

At the time, Mali described their home, about 300 kilometres outside of Melbourne, as their "perfect paradise".

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"It's so peaceful," she said.

But, they claimed, their dirtbike-riding neighbours were making their lives difficult.

"These dirt bike ferals move here and they think it's the wild west," Freeman told A Current Affair at the time.

"It's all-out war and they are the instigators of it."

Seven years on, Freeman is tonight on the run after a shooting at his Porepunkah home left two Victoria Police officers dead and another wounded.

A Current Affair reporter Marty King, who travelled to the family's high country home in 2018, said Freeman seemed "genuine" at the time.

"But I do recall that day he was very obsessive. All day long he spoke at me, and not to me," King said.

Freeman has had run-ins with police in the years since A Current Affair's story.

Tonight, the small town of Porepunkah is in lockdown as police continue to search for Freeman.

Watch the full video in the player above.