Wieambilla inquest Day 9: Police SERT operative 201 killed Stacey Train, injured Gareth
The police sniper who shot an armed Stacey Train dead and injured fellow conspiracy theorist Gareth has relived the intense firefight.
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The police sniper who shot and injured Gareth and killed Stacey Train said the gunfire that hit his lightly armoured vehicle was so powerful, it was unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
A marathon inquest into the murders of police constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold and good Samaritan Alan Dare is in its second week.
The two constables were killed by conspiracy theorists Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train as they walked along the long dirt driveway.
SERT operative 114 said it was “like nothing I’ve ever experienced before”, with shots from the high powered rifle forcing them to make a hasty retreat back down the driveway of the property where two police officers had been murdered hours earlier.
“The accuracy of the first six to eight rounds to the front of the BearCat and how we rocked when a number of those rounds hit the front of the BearCat was quite surreal,” he told an inquest.
“It’s a nearly nine-and-a-half tonne car. It rocked. I’ve never experienced that before - just the magnitude of the calibre we were dealing with.”
The Trains were killed by SERT snipers six hours after the trio of conspiracy theorists gunned down two police constables and their neighbour.
The horror incident unfolded within two minutes of four officers arriving at the Trains’ Wieambilla bush block on December 12, 2022 to ask after former school principal Nathaniel, who had been reported missing in New South Wales.
The Wains Rd property belonged to Nathaniel’s brother Gareth and his wife Stacey, although Stacey had previously been married to Nathaniel.
Police have said the Trains subscribed to Premillennialism and believed Christ would return to earth for 1000 years after a period of widespread destruction.
They also believed police were the enemy - referring to them as “devils and demons”.
Constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold were fatally shot as the four police walked down the dirt driveway, with the inquest told Nathaniel fired the first shots from a concealed sniper hide.
Constables Keely Brough and Randall Kirk managed to escape, with Constable Brough hiding in grass eight inches high as two gunmen hunted her and lit fires to flush her out.
The Trains also shot and killed their neighbour Alan Dare when he saw smoke coming from their property and came to investigate.
Local police had entered the property to recover the bodies of their fallen colleagues and rescue Constable Brough before the arrival of the SERT teams.
SERT operative 201 confirmed he was the one who fired on two of the trio after high powered gunfire had hit both his vehicle and the heavily armoured BearCat.
The operative was the sniper on board the lightly armoured team three vehicle that drove to the ride side of the property under the cover of darkness without lights.
“The position was not ideal but it was the best position we were able to get into at that time without compromising our position,” he said.
He said initially the Trains, despite firing in their general direction, did not know exactly where they were.
He agreed he took the first shot that injured Gareth.
“I took the first shot yes from team three,” operative 201 said.
“That first shot, as you understood it, appeared to have connected with and injured Gareth, is that right?” counsel assisting the coroner Ruth O’Gorman KC asked.
“That’s correct,” he replied.
The operative said there was a lul in shooting and they decided to push close to the house, driving as close as the yard fence.
“We’ve turned a white light on to get better situational awareness of what we were dealing with,” he said.
“We quickly realised they were aware of where we were and we took a number of rounds from both Gareth and Nathaniel at that time.”
He said they quickly retreated from their position, about 30m from the house.
“It was definitely something I haven’t ever experienced before,” he said.
“The impact of the rounds when they were hitting the vehicle … the vehicle is quite a few tonne in weight.
“Those rounds were hitting and were actually moving the vehicle.
“The calibre of the weapon that they had - it packed quite a punch. It was felt, to the point when they were hitting on the window and the windscreen, you could feel the percussion I suppose.”
The operative says he saw Stacey emerge onto the landing of the house on more than one occasion.
The second time, he said she was carrying a rifle that she pointed and fired at the team one vehicle.
“And that’s when I engaged the female Stacey. Given she had a firearm in her possession, I was able to do that from my position,” he said.
“She then fell?” Ms O’Gorman said.
“Yes,” he responded.
CRAZED PRINCIPAL USED SLAIN OFFICER’S GUN
An operative from the elite Special Emergency Response Team has described the “surreal” moment a volley of gunfire struck the front of the heavily armoured BearCat at the Wieambilla siege, rocking the nine-and-a-half tonne vehicle.
SERT operatives were given the mission to contain the Trains on the property and secure their surrender. Orders had been given to prevent them leaving the property - by lethal force if necessary - because the risk to the public was considered so great.
Operative 114 told the inquest he was seated in the front of the BearCat as several light armoured vehicles mounted a stealth mission to surround the Train home, which he referred to as the “stronghold”.
He said a sniper was in each of the lightly armoured cars as they made their way in the dark without lights to surround the house.
The inquest heard Polair circled the stronghold to let crews on the ground know where each of the gunmen were.
He said once all teams were in place, the BearCat travelled along the driveway towards the house to make attempts over a loud hailer to negotiate the Trains’ surrender.
The inquest heard two police negotiators were inside the BearCat.
Operative 114 said when a negotiator began speaking, they were met with gunfire.
“Sitting in the front there … just how the impact to the front of the windscreen and how accurate the fire was … we made comment of that within the vehicle.
“At that distance I certainly felt comfortable (that) the offenders had rifles … (they) definitely had scope rifles.
“The driver was quick to put it in reverse.”
He said it then became clear a sniper was needed inside the BearCat.
He told the inquest when the BearCat had reversed some distance, they waited for communication from Polair that the gunmen had “settled a bit”.
A sniper from one of the other vehicles then ran from one vehicle to get inside the BearCat.
Operative 114 said he didn’t want to expose the lighter armoured vehicles after the BearCat had been hit and sustained the significant damage.
He said he had told teams to keep moving vehicles or to not be “front on” to the Trains and to create angles.
At 10.04pm a SERT operative from Team 3 took the first shot at the Trains.
Operative 114 said the decision to shoot was a matter for the individual and team leader in that vehicle.
After returning fire at the Trains the SERT operatives were told Gareth had repositioned himself.
Polair believed at that point Gareth could have been injured and taken a round to his side.
“But it certainly didn’t change his demeanour from his upper body with how he was working the weapon and remaining prone,” Operative 114 said.
“Because soon after that a number of accurate shots get fired by person of interest one (Gareth) towards team three, where one hits the side of the windscreen, cracks the side of the windscreen of their vehicle.”
Operative 114 said throughout the incident there was concerns the Trains could access the car but they later positioned themselves in a way that appeared to show they were “bunkering down to not negotiate with us”.
Both of the brothers were at this point lying prone close to the house.
At 10.32pm, after firing on Team 3, return fire hit Gareth in the hip and head and he was killed.
Stacey fired at the BearCat and went inside the house before reappearing.
Operative 114 said he was “taken by surprise” when Stacey came outside of the house and fired a rifle.
“I did feel we could attempt negotiations with person of interest three (Stacey),” he said of the their beliefs during the incident.
When Stacey reappeared from the house she took a second shot and an operative returned fire, with a round hitting her head, at 10.36pm. Stacey then fell down the staircase and didn’t move.
Nathaniel, who was behind a log barricade, continued to fire at the BearCat and then reached up to the table near him and swapped to using Constable Arnold’s Glock that he had taken from him.
A negotiator and SERT Operative 106 yelled from the BearCat turret for him to put his weapons down but Nathaniel ignored them, the inquest was told.
“The negotiations continued the whole time for his surrender,” Operative 114 said.
“He (Nathaniel) was sort of all in a ball behind the log.
“And it was like his last stand as he stood up to fire the Glock where he was ultimately engaged.”
In the return fire, Nathaniel was shot in the head, left knee and right lower chest at 10.38pm and died.
ACTIONS DEEMED APPROPRIATE
David Proctor, a retired Northern Territory police commander, reviewed the appropriateness of the SERT response in relation to the job.
He said all of the actions taken by SERT on the night were appropriate.
Mr Proctor said the teams acted appropriately in the inner cordon, given the threat that the Trains could get to one of the vehicles.
Their strategy on the night was “tactically sound” and retreating would have provided an additional risk to the public, he said.
Mr Proctor said the use of force in returning fire on the Trains was appropriate after they had tried on multiple occasions to negotiate the incident peacefully.
There was also an increased risk to the SERT officers as they were fired on.
He said the officers were “defending themselves and defending others from the risk of lethal force”.
Mr Proctor said he couldn’t recall in his 34 years of service, where people continued to be in a shootout with police in a similar situation when there were attempts for negotiation.
He said the incident was a unique situation that “nobody else in Australia has had to deal with at this level”.
“I think it’s the risk to the public that becomes the main consideration and I think that was their only option (to act in the tactical way they did),” he said.
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