WHAT WAS CLAIMED
The scenes of two cop shootings, in 2022 and 2025, appear to be identical.
OUR VERDICT
False. The images show different angles of the same Queensland property.
AAP FACTCHECK - A rural home where two police officers were recently shot dead does not have "striking similarities" to the scene of an earlier police killing, despite claims online.
However, the two images being shared show the same Queensland home from different angles.
Suspected gunman Dezi Freeman remains at large in Victoria's high country after allegedly gunning down Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart and Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson on August 26, 2025.
There have been no confirmed sightings of the 56-year-old since he fled into dense bushland near a Porepunkah property where the slain officers were serving a search warrant.
A Facebook post on August 29, 2025, features two images of houses alongside claims they show the Porepunkah home and another property in Wieambilla, Queensland, where two police were shot dead in 2022.
"Im adding two photos sent to me," the misspelled caption reads. "The farms are different... the houses very similar, the water tanks exactly the same.."
"Weambilla 'shooting' of the alleged 'Sovereign Citizens' in Qld last year...
"Porepunkah 'shooting' involving alleged 'Sovereign Citizen' this wee in Victoria...
"Note the 'striking similarities' between both homes... weirdly they look identical."
Comments below some of the posts refer to a "psyop", or psychological operation, and say "a lot of things don't add up about this story".
A reverse image search shows the images were taken from news reports and the subsequent inquest into the deadly Queensland shooting.
In December 2022, Constable Rachel McCrow, Constable Matthew Arnold and civilian Alan Dare were killed when Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train ambushed them in a religiously-motivated terrorist attack, according to Queensland Police.
The Trains were killed by police following a standoff.
The first image in the Facebook post is a screenshot from police drone footage of the property shown at the coronial inquest into the attack.
The second image appears to be a screenshot from a video in an ABC News article.
Other posts making similar claims feature a screenshot of a social media graphic from The Weekly Times.
The Victorian newspaper published a breaking news post relating to the Porepunkah incident on August 26, 2025, but featuring an image of the Queensland property.
The Facebook post's edit history reveals its caption was amended eight minutes after it was initially published, to include the words: "Picture: The shooting of police in country Victoria by a suspected sovereign citizen has echoes of Queensland's horrific Wieambilla shootings."
The property where Freeman was living has several clear visual differences when compared to the Wieambilla property.
An Australian Associated Press (AAP) photo clearly shows the house at the Porepunkah property has a red roof and three gable windows.
The house backs onto a hillside, while the property in Queensland has relatively flat surroundings, as seen on aerial images from ABC News.
Further AAP photos show separate structures on the property, including a corrugated iron shack with a red-painted verandah.
Images also show the Victorian property is surrounded by dense bushland, while the Queensland house is in a far more open location.
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