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 closely resembles an ambush of police in Queensland three years ago – has shocked the town and revived questions over how the country handles growing sects of anti-government conspiracy theorists.
This is exactly the sort of thing that we've been fearing, says Joe McIntyre, who has spent years studying these groups in Australia.
Small Community 'Rattled'
Police were clearly expecting that this wasn't going to be a straightforward interaction. A detailed risk assessment had been conducted and 10 officers – a show of force – were tasked with executing the search warrant, reportedly relating to a sex crimes investigation.
Among them was a local detective from a nearby town who was on the brink of retirement. Neal Thompson was selected for the job because he'd had previous dealings with the target and was thought to have built rapport with him.
Within minutes of arriving at the property, he was shot dead, alongside Senior Constable Vadim De Waart. Another unnamed officer was gravely injured and is recovering in hospital.
Mr Freeman escaped into thick tree cover on his property with several firearms, including, according to local media, an illegal homemade gun and at least one weapon stolen from the slain officers. He remains on the run.
Horror quickly echoed around the valley.
Holed up in the caravan park her family owns, Emily White's voice choked up as she explained her fear and surprise.
I got a knock on my door from one of our workers saying that there's an active shooter. I said, 'What? You're lying, you're joking', she told the BBC over the phone on Tuesday night.
We're such a small community, and we'll leave our cars unlocked, and we'll leave our front doors open. Nothing like this ever happens.
Residents say it's the kind of town where everyone knows everyone. So it didn't take long for Mr Freeman – legally known as Desmond Filby – to be fingered as the alleged culprit.
'Not Just One or Two Crackpots'
Sovereign citizens are a type of anti-authoritarian conspiracists loosely dubbed pseudo-law believers: people who reject established government and law as illegitimate, justified by legal-sounding arguments that have no actual basis. In practice, that can mean anything from refusing to register a car and hold a driver's license, to trying to use their own asserted authority to arrest a magistrate in court.
Though Mr Freeman and his family seemed to be well integrated in the community, locals indicate he held anti-government beliefs that sparked rumors. The manhunt has left Porepunkah residents feeling rattled, with fears that anti-government extremism could lead to further violence.
Authorities are under increasing pressure to confront this growing threat, as parallels are drawn with previous incidents of violence involving similar ideologies. The ramifications of this tragic event may push discussions on how to deal with so-called sovereign citizen movements into the mainstream, certainly here in Australia.
