The gun found in the house which fugitive Malcolm Naden broke into is the same one used to shoot a police officer earlier this month, police say.
Two local general duties officers were sent to a cabin in Nowendoc, east of Tamworth, on Wednesday following reports of a break-in.
They arrived to find Naden, one of NSW’s most wanted men, outside.
The large strike force hunting Naden was about 40km away at the time, searching an area where the fugitive was thought to be.
The local officers drew their weapons and spoke to Naden before he got back inside the property and fled into nearby bushland.
After his escape, police found a .22-calibre rifle with a telescopic sight at the empty house.
Forensic and bullet tests confirmed on Saturday that it was the same gun used to shoot a 33-year-old officer in the shoulder on December 7 when police neared what was then Naden’s camp.
Naden has been on the run since 2005, when he fled his grandparents’ home in west Dubbo days after his cousin, 24-year-old mother-of-two Kristy Scholes, was found strangled in his bedroom.
He is also suspected of involvement in the disappearance a few months earlier of another of his cousins, Lateesha Nolan, and the rape of a 15-year-old schoolgirl.
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