Qld police shooting: Principal turned cop killer’s despair at education failings
More details have emerged about the bizarre life of two cop-killing brothers, including claims of a NAPLAN cheating scandal, doomsday conspiracy theories and a love triangle.
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A disgruntled former school principal, his brother, who held bizarre doomsday conspiracy theories, and his teacher wife executed two police officers and their innocent neighbour in a cold-blooded ambush.
Gareth Train, 47, a conspiracy theorist who owned the rural western Darling Downs home where the horror shootout took place, believed Port Arthur shooter Martin Bryant was an “innocent patsy” and that he and his wife had been stalked by planes, helicopters and drones.
Train had eerily written about his mistrust for police and previous confrontations with officers.
Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, were murdered in cold blood at his property at Wieambilla, south of Chinchilla, about 4.40pm on Monday.
Neighbour Alan Dare was also shot and killed by the armed offenders when he came out to investigate the commotion.
Train’s brother Nathaniel, a former Queensland and NSW school principal, was hiding out with his brother and had been the subject of a missing persons notice by NSW police.
Queensland officers had received a referral from their NSW counterparts.
Gareth’s wife Stacey Train, 45, a former teacher at Tara Shire State College, was also with the two men.
The brothers were also involved in a love triangle, The Australian reports, with suggestions Nathaniel was once married to Stacey Train.
The trio were killed after a shootout with the Special Emergency Response Team.
Gareth regularly posted bizarre conspiracy theories online, including that the Port Arthur massacre was an inside job.
In a chilling post he also spoke about previous confrontations with officers who were “cowards”.
“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.
“Fortunately for me they have all been cowards.
“Our country is at a point where even cowards are now dangerous because they are unpredictable in groups, turn your back and you may find yourself out cold on the floor with law enforcement dancing on your head. We are seeing this in Victoria.”
Gareth 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”.
Theories, fires and killers: Qld’s cold-blooded ambush explained
He also wrote anti-vaccination posts and claimed “chemical agents were deployed over populated areas at altitude, drifted 100s of kms”.
“Stupid is as stupid does, the demonic juice is a neurological bioweapon permanently altering stupid’s mind, so there’s no fixing stupid,” he wrote in relation to Covid vaccinations.
“It’s a choice stupid made, now stupid has to live and die with it. This is a time like no other, nor will ever be again.
“Where possible, live at peace with all men; when not possible, pick up your sword. Our Lord, our King, our Brother Jesus Christ stands with us in this time. Be well.”
In another post, Gareth talked about being followed and surveyed by air.
“Surveillance drone flown over property, several close passes of house,” he wrote.
“Light plane flyovers within 20m of the house roof – complaint lodged with CASA for all it’s worth, I just wanted to see the reaction.”
Stacey ran as a local branch delegate of the Queensland Teachers Union in the Western Downs in 2019, according to a document with the Electoral Commission of Queensland.
Nathaniel, 46, was once a respected school principal but, after moving between several schools, he suffered health issues and went off the grid.
In an appeal to find Nathaniel, NSW Police said he was last seen in Dubbo on December 16 last year but was still in contact with family members until Sunday, October 9 this year.
Nathaniel was a former principal of Yorkeys Knob State School in Cairns and also Innisfail East State School.
A Queensland Department of Education spokeswoman confirmed Nathaniel voluntarily resigned in March 2020 and Stacey in December 2021.
In May 2020, Nathaniel was the principal of BUSY schools in Cairns and in a media interview said some of the school’s enrolment came from the juvenile justice system.
“We don’t take students that are highly violent or will endanger other students; we are a hand up not a handout,” Mr Train said at the time.
He was later executive principal at Walgett Community College High School and was employed until March this year, according to the NSW Department of Education.
“One of the deceased was a former NSW Education employee who had not been working at a NSW school since August 2021. He officially left our employment in March this year,” the statement read.
Train left the school after suffering a heart attack and having mental health issues.
He contacted One Nation leader Mark Latham unhappy with the state of education at the school.
Mr Latham asked questions in NSW Parliament, raising Train’s concerns in April, including allegations that teachers were helping students cheat in NAPLAN tests.
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said Department of Education deputy secretary Murat Dizdar did not recall Train disclosing this issue when they met.
“He does recall Mr Train discussing some matters that Mr Train had experienced during the course of his educational leadership,” she said.
Ms Mitchell said Train, over two weeks in March this year, sent 16 emails to the “secretary office” email account which were referred to the “responsible functional unit within the department for attention and appropriate action”.
Little is known about what the trio were doing at the property in the lead-up to the shooting.
Local resident David Maynard said just days before the massacre Nathaniel had congratulated him outside the Tara FoodWorks about a local community nomination.
“We were talking about horses and how he had three that he wanted relocated – I told him to inbox me but he never did – that was about two or three days ago,” he said.
“The person I saw the other day compared to what happened yesterday – it just doesn’t make sense.”
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