Wieambilla shooting: Timeline of events, police officers killed and tributes

Queensland’s horror shooting shocked the nation - these are how the events unfolded, the details of those involved and the fallout from the cold-blooded ambush.

Tributes poured in from across Australia for the two Queensland Police officers killed in the horror shootout at a rural Darling Downs property in December 2022.

The Wieambilla police shooting rocked not just the small town but the nation, leading to a coronial hearing in July 2024.

These are how the events unfolded, the details of those involved and the fallout from the cold-blooded ambush >>>

How and why did the incident start?

Four police officers were ambushed with a hail of bullets after they jumped the fence of a Wieambilla property about 4.40pm to do a welfare check on missing NSW man Nathaniel Train.

One officer was shot and made it back to his car while another fled into dense bushland.

Two police hit during the initial barrage of bullets were executed where they fell.

The slain police officers were Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and Constable Matthew Arnold, 26.

The two other police officers, Constable Keely Brough and Constable Randall Kirk, both aged 28, were chased but managed to escape the shootout 300km west of Brisbane.

The four officers were sent in at the request of NSW Police, as Nathaniel had been reported missing in Walgett by his wife.

It was later revealed the murderous family hid themselves in bushes and lay in wait for police to arrive at their rural home before opening fire with rifles from 40m away in what was being investigated as a premeditated plot.

They dressed in camouflage gear and installed trail cameras in the trees that sent notifications of movement.

Police had “no chance” to defend themselves or fight back, according to police officials – with a probe underway into why no-one realised the danger the young constables were unwittingly sent into.

Constable Brough, a police officer for just eight weeks, sent text messages to loved ones as the killers started a fire to ‘smoke her out of hiding’.

Suspects Gareth Train, his brother Nathaniel, a former school principal who had been the subject of a missing persons notice by NSW Police, and Gareth’s wife Stacey Train – a former teacher – were killed in a subsequent police firefight.

Neighbour Alan Dare was also shot in the back and killed by the armed offenders after he came out to investigate the fire.

The grieving widow of Alan “Al” Dare revealed her loving husband said “I’ll be back” before he left their family home on that afternoon.

Disturbing police radio captured the moment cop killers were gunned down in the firefight with Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) officers at about 10.30pm.

The Queensland police union at the time described the shooting as “a ruthless, calculated and targeted execution of our colleagues”.

After the violent end, Queensland Police Union President Ian Leavers wrote to members.

“With great sadness we write to inform you of the deaths of two of our friends, colleagues, loved ones and Queensland Police Union members, both Constables from Tara this afternoon while on duty,” Mr Leavers wrote.

Alan Dare died in a shooting at Wieambilla along with two police officers.

Who were the police officers involved?

Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, and Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, were both killed in the incident.

Two other officers managed to escape – Chinchilla-based Constable Randall Kirk suffered a gunshot wound and Constable Keely Brough hid in bushes until being extracted by other police teams later sent to the scene.

St Laurence’s College principal, Chris Leadbetter, posted a tribute to Constable Arnold, a former pupil of the South Brisbane school.

Const. McCrow, who was based at the Tara Police Station, graduated from Bray Park’s Genesis Christian College in 2010.

A tearful Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said Constables Arnold and McCrow and had only recently joined QPS.

She said Constable Arnold was sworn in in March 2020 and Constable McCrow was sworn in in June 2021.

They both began their careers in the Dalby division before moving to the Tara police station.

The tragic deaths sadly added to Queensland’s list of fallen police officers.

The sister of Constable Arnold in April 2023 admitted she knew her brother had been murdered in the shooting before anyone else.

When calls and texts were not being answered, Hayley Arnold turned to her fitness watch where she and Constable Arnold shared their daily movements.

The police shooting at Wieambilla. Photo: Supplied

Where did the shooting occur?

Wieambilla, at a property in the western Darling Downs, about three hours west of Brisbane.

Bought in 2015 for $95,000, the weatherboard home built atop small stilts on has two bedrooms, a bathroom and a covered patio.

Property photos give a clear idea of what confronted the police officers on the scene.

A long driveway with gum trees either side eventually leads up to a simple weatherboard home.

The five steps up to the front of the home lead to a flywire door, behind which is an enclosed patio with wooden floorboards.

Inside the tired kitchen has an island bench, with minimal natural light getting in.

The home’s sloping steel roof fed water into two large tanks, while elsewhere on the property sits a dam.

While there was a clearing around the home, the property was littered with trees which were reportedly set on fire by the occupants in an effort to smoke out one of the officers who escaped when shots were fired at her.

What is the background of Nathaniel Train, Gareth Train and Stacey Train?

A “mild mannered” former Queensland school principal was revealed to be at the centre of the bloody massacre where six people died.

One of the Wieambilla gunmen, Nathaniel Train, was a former principal of Far North Queensland school Yorkeys Knob State School and Walgett Community College Primary School in NSW.

A Department of Education spokeswoman confirmed Nathaniel and Stacey Train were both former employees.

Described in a 2017 news report as ‘mild-mannered’, Mr Train was photographed with Christmas decorations in his beard.

It was also revealed Nathaniel Train had not spoken to his father for more than two decades.

But when NSW Police put out a missing person’s report on December 8, his father Ronald – a Christian Minister and author – wanted his son to know that despite their estrangement, he was still “much loved”.

“Nathaniel is my youngest son,” Ronald Train wrote on a Facebook post. “Whilst we have not seen each other for 23 years, he is much loved.”

The father later revealed further information about his sons in a TV interview.

Now, Ronald Train has lost not only Nathaniel, but his older son Gareth and daughter-in-law Stacey.

“I’ve lost two children,” a shattered Ronald Train said December 13, 2022 outside his home in Toowoomba.

Former school principal Nathaniel Train.

Nathaniel’s links to Queensland were well established. Until recent years, the 46-year-old had mostly been living in Queensland since the turn of the century, holding down a series of teaching roles.

In 2021 he moved back to NSW and took up the role of Executive Principal at Walgett Community College Primary School.

But in August 2021 he suffered a major heart attack, rescued only by colleagues who performed CPR until ambulance paramedics arrived.

Former students of Train expressed their shock at his change since he left Cairns.

It was also revealed the brothers were involved in a love triangle, with suggestions Nathaniel was once married to Stacey Train.

In February 2023 the daughter of the cop-killing Train family returned to the Western Downs property where Queensland’s worst police shooting took place, revealing her final communication with her parents.

Madelyn Train is the daughter of Nathaniel and Stacey Train, who separated when she was young. Stacey Train then married Nathaniel’s brother Gareth Train, who raised Madelyn.

Speaking to Channel 9’s A Current Affair, Ms Train said they had exchanged text messages the night of the shootings.

“Nathaniel had sent me a text saying his wife had sent people to kill me. They knew they were going to die that night,” Ms Train said.

In February 2023 Stacey Train’s diary revealed the murders were part of a “religiously motivated terrorist attack”.

Conspiracy theories: Reddit, Port Arthur massacre and ‘Sovereign Citizen’

Nathaniel Train’s tenure with the Walgett school ended in March 2022 because of physical and mental health issues but not before he contacted NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham, telling him he was concerned about a case of NAPLAN cheating.

Gareth Train, meanwhile, had previously posted about past confrontations with police and bizarre conspiracy theories about Donald Trump.

He was also active on a sovereign citizen conspiracy site.

“I have directed law enforcement to leave my premises over the last 20yrs, having no reason or grounds and at times have also asked them to remove their hands from their weapons or pull their pistols and whistle Dixie,” he wrote in a chilling post on Citizens Initiated Referendums.

“Fortunately for me they have all been cowards.”

Train also posted about the Port Arthur massacre on other websites, claiming mass shooter Martin Bryant was the “perfect patsy”, that the shooting was a “false flag” operation and was a “government psy-op massacre”.

“Anyone who watch the live media coverage at the time (1996) and was aware of the political deceit lead up, knows that this was a Government Psychological Operation to disarm the Australian population,” he wrote on one website.

The trio of killers also made threats to wider Australia.

What was the fallout?

Rookie Constable Keely Brough, who survived the deadly ambush, sent messages to family saying she thought she was going to die as the killers tried to hunt her down.

Constable Brough, 28, who had been a police officer for just eight weeks, fled the horrific scene hid in bushland. The killers then lit a fire in a bid to smoke out her out.

In a frank and emotional press conference, Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said none of the officers stood a chance to survive and it was a miracle to managed to escape.

“As I said, I went to the scene, it was confronting as you could appreciate … in my opinion, those officers did not stand a chance,” she said, though at the one-year anniversay conceded things would be done differently.

Meanwhile, Constable Randall Kirk underwent surgery to remove shrapnel from his leg.

Steven Miles at the Queensland Police Service Memorial to acknowledge the 12-month anniversary of the shooting. Picture: Richard Walker

In a statement released through the Queensland Police Union, Const. Kirk said: “I’m feeling fine, just a little sore. My main thoughts are with the other police families at this awful time. It means a lot to know the community cares for us all.”

The Queensland Police Union, in a social media post, said Const. Kirk had undergone surgery to remove shrapnel and repair the damage.

Flower shops in the region sold out as tributes poured in.

A visibly shaken Constable Keely Brough paid tribute to her fallen colleagues and a neighbour killed in the fatal ambush.

Constable Brough did not speak at a community vigil and was hugged by Assistant Commissioner Charysse Pond as she arrived.

A funeral service to honour constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold was held at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Wednesday, December 21.

Neighbour Alan Dare, who was also killed in the ambush, was farewelled a couple of days later.

In June 2023 an inquest started into the shootings, with a full list of issues to be examined disclosed.

In the pre-inquest hearing it was revealed neighbour Alan Dare captured his own death on his phone.

In June 2024 police requested extra time to detail information ahead of the coronial hearing starting on July 29, 2024.

Tributes for those killed

Loving memories and other emotional tributes flew in for the two young Queensland Police officers killed.

The triplet sister of slain officer Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, talked of her devastation in an emotional tribute to one of her brothers.

“There are no words to express our loss,” Hayley Arnold wrote on social media.

“I can’t begin to explain the love and bond we had.

“As triplets, we were born together and were meant to grow old together.

“One third of me is gone, and in place is a physical heartbreak pain I’ve had since we received that knock on the door.”

Flowers and cards left at Chinchilla Police Station. Picture: Liam Kidston

Ms Arnold wrote at the time her brother was expected to come home for Christmas.

“You were meant to come home today and stay home for Christmas. You should’ve been able to come home,” she wrote.

“Rest in Peace Matt, Matty, big Matt, Marnold, Marny.

“The hole in our lives is immense and indescribable. We will love you forever xxx”.

Constable Arnold’s mother posted a picture of her son to social media shortly after the tragedy. Sue Arnold wrote next to the photo: “Rest in Peace, my beautiful boy” with two heart emojis.

St Laurence’s College principal, Chris Leadbetter, posted a tribute to Constable Arnold, a former pupil of the South Brisbane school.

Then Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also paid tribute to the two young officers killed.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also paid tribute to the two police officers gunned down, saying that their lives were “cut short by this atrocity”.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll on December 16 hailed the bravery of the officers involved in the shooting “beyond belief”.

What happened at the coronial inquest?

As new photos and video emerged for the first time, this is how the inquest unfolded:

Day 1: Operator’s two-hour Triple-0 call with cop being flushed out by fire

Day 2: Watch: Cop flees crazed gunmen moments after colleagues executed

Day 3: Radios drop amid shooting

Day 4: Hero extraction team that saved officer’s life 

Day 5: Brave constable’s race for survival

Day 6: Widow’s heartbreaking triple-0 call

Day 7: What police weren’t told about Gareth Train

Day 8: Three dead in seven minutes

Counsel assisting the coroner at the Wieambilla pre-inquest at Brisbane Magistrates Court in June. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass