Wieambilla police shooting: Service says no red flags about Train family

Queensland Police say a deadly ambush that killed two police officers and a bystander last week was not an act of domestic terrorism and that there were no signs a ‘run of the mill’ call-out would end in cold-blooded murder.

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Police had attended the Wieambilla property owned by the Train family on multiple occasions in an effort to find former school principal Nathaniel and ask him about an illegal border crossing that saw him damage a gate and abandon his vehicle.

Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford today confirmed police had made multiple attempts to find Nathaniel, who had not been seen by his wife in New South Wales for a year.

She said when constables Matthew Arnold, Rachel McCrow,Keely Brough and Randall Kirk drove out to the Darling Downs property of Nathaniel’s brother Gareth and his former wife Stacey on December 12, they were in possession of a warrant to serve on Nathaniel for wilful damage and failing to secure firearms.

Nathaniel Train had been a principal at several schools around Queensland and NSW

“The Queensland police had very little history about the Train family members,” Ms Linford said.

“Nathaniel Train’s only history with us was a 2014 driving offence and then more recently, events … that occurred on the 17th of December last year.

“That revolved around reports that Nathaniel Train had crossed over the Queensland border from New South Wales and had driven his vehicle through an e-gate, causing damage and his vehicle got bogged at that location.

“And when police subsequently investigated the vehicle because they were speaking to other locals in the area, two firearms were handed in.

Aerial vision of the crime scene at Wieambilla. Picture: 9 News.

“Those firearms were registered to Nathaniel Train. He was a licensed firearms holder.”

She said the failure to properly secure those firearms led to Nathaniel’s firearms licence being suspended.

Ms Linford said local police made multiple attempts to speak to the Trains at the property, as well as leaving phone messages and cards, in relation to the border breach.

The border was able to be crossed in December last year but only for people who were vaccinated.

She said Gareth, who went on to marry his brother’s former wife, had no history with police other than a 1998 offence of unlawfully possessing a firearm.

“And in terms of Stacey Train, we have no criminal history of intelligence holdings on her,” Ms Linford said.

Stacey Train. Picture: Louise Cheer/News

Gareth Train. Picture: A Current Affair/ Channel 9

Constables McCrow and Arnold were murdered by the Train family last Monday after they arrived at the property looking for Nathaniel.

Constable Brough and Kirk managed to escape, although Const. Brough was forced to hide in the bush for up to two hours as the Trains fired in her direction and lit fires to flush her out.

Neighbour Alan Dare was also shot and killed after he saw the smoke from the fire and came to investigate.

Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey were all killed by Special Emergency Response Team officers after a lengthy shootout.

Ms Linford said an investigation was under way, overseen by the Ethical Standards Command but with assistance from homicide investigators, intelligence personnel, local police and specialist teams including the covert online team, evidence extraction experts, forensic police and security and counter terrorism.

“This is a very complex investigation,” she said.

Nathaniel Train's Black Landcruiser became bogged after he crossed the border in December last year.

“We’ve been trawling through social media and have been using the expertise of the AFP in that work, trying to understand and trying to find any postings or information about the Trains on social media.”

She said some of that material has been posted under aliases.

“We are trying to create a timeline of everything they did in the weeks and months leading up to last Monday,” Ms Linford said.

“That means looking at all the phone data, texts, call charge records, emails, examining all their electronic devices, examining all the documents that were seized.

“We’re trawling through all their bank accounts looking at what purchases they’ve made and that might lead us then to other avenues of inquiry.”

Ms Linford said Nathaniel was reported missing by his wife in NSW earlier this month because she had genuine concerns for his welfare after not having seen him in more than a year.

Gareth and Stacey Train recorded and uploaded a video to YouTube on Monday night, after the deadly shooting.

“She had not had an opportunity to even speak to him by phone since May this year,” she said.

“She had a genuine concern for his welfare.”

Ms Linford said local police, after receiving information from NSW, checked the QPrime system and discovered an outstanding warrant.

“They were able to identify that there was an outstanding warrant for him that related to the incident back on the 17th of December 2021,” she said.

“And as I highlighted before, that related to him crossing the border in his own vehicle with his own registered firearms of which he was a licensed holder.

The Wieambilla property where Nathaniel, Stacey and Gareth Train lived and where two police officers and a neighbour were murdered in cold blood.

“In the scheme of things, this was a run of the mill policing job.”

Ms Linford said among the many items seized from the Train property on Wains Rd, were six guns, three compound bows and three knives.

Three of the firearms were unregistered.

“We didn’t have any flags … that raised concerns to us about these individuals. They are not somebody who were on our watch list,” she said.

“But I would implore anybody in the community, if they come across or know somebody that has concerning behaviour, that we are now starting to find out about the Train family members, anything like that, we would really like them to come forward and contact police.”

Despite the several anti-government and anti-police messages posted by the Trains before the shooting, police say there was still nothing to indicate it was a planned terror attack.

“We are certainly not classing it as a domestic terror event,” Ms Linford said.

“At this point there’s nothing to indicate that.

“What we can see is sentiment displayed by the three individuals … that appears to be anti-government, anti-police, conspiracy theorist type thing.

“But we can’t see them connected to any particular group they might be working with or who inspired them to do anything.”