‘Didn’t stand a chance’: Details of Wieambilla cop killings

A rural Queensland town is in mourning after two young police officers were gunned down in a horrific ambush attack, just weeks before Christmas.

Tragic new details have emerged relating to one of two police officers who were executed in a horrific ambush in Wieambilla on Monday.

Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, died in a hail of bullets while making inquiries about a missing person at the remote property.

NCA NewsWire understands Constable Arnold was expected to travel to his family in Brisbane for Christmas on Tuesday.

Tara resident Chaseley Gibbons came to the local police station to pay her respects to Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, on Tuesday.

Ms Gibbons said she personally knew Constable Arnold and was “sad” to hear the news of his death.

“He was really nice,” she told NCA NewsWire on Tuesday.

Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, and Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, died in a hail of bullets on Monday in a horrific ambush attack at a remote property in Queensland.

“I’ve been here all my life, 44 years, and this is the first time anything like this has rocked our town.

“It’s going to be a really, really big loss.

“We’re a close community and we’ll get there

Ms Gibbons said the town, which she described as a “close knit family”, would be grieving for a long time,

“It’s going to be hard for the next few weeks and months, especially for the family, being so close to Christmas and everything.”

Local resident Chaseley Gibbons said this is the first time in the 44 years she had lived in Wieambilla that something like this had happened. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ David Clark

She lay flowers and tributes at the Tara Police Station where a makeshift memorial has been established Picture: NCA NewsWire/ David Clark

It is believed that one of the slain officers was due to head home for Christmas on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ David Clark

Others have also spent the morning paying respects to the police officers killed, with dozens of flowers having been laid in front of the Tara Police Station.

“Fly high precious angels,” one memorial card read.

The Pain family also paid their respects, writing “in appreciation of the police” on their memorial card left outside the station.

Earlier on Tuesday, Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll told media the officers “didn’t stand a chance” against the camouflaged trio.

Inside property where police executed

Constable Matthew Arnold joined the police in March 2020. Picture: Supplied

Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, became an officer in June 2021. Picture: Supplied

The Wieambilla property on the Western Downs where two police officers were gunned down by brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train. Picture: Supplied

Commissioner Carroll told reporters the attack was intended to kill as many people as possible.

“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.

“The fact that two got out alive is a miracle.
“The incident is a reminder of the unpredictable nature of policing.”

The surviving police have been named as Constable Keeley Brough and Constable Randall Kirk, both 28.

Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and Constable Matthew Arnold, 26 worked at Tara Police Station. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ David Clark

Four officers had arrived at the address at Wieambilla, three hours west of Brisbane, at 4.40pm on Monday, seeking information about missing Dubbo man Nathaniel Train.

Constable Brough, who joined the force just nine weeks ago, fled the horrific scene and escaped into nearby bushland.

The killers then lit a fire in a bid to smoke out her out of the bushes.

A neighbour who came to investigate what was taking place around 5pm was also shot and killed.

It’s understood further shots were fired into their bodies, and the dead and injured officers’ glocks were taken.
By 6pm police had declared an emergency declaration zone encompassing the area between Chinchilla Tara Rd, Wieambilla Rd, Bennetts School Rd and Mary St.

At 2am, Queensland Police confirmed two men and a woman – Nathaniel Train, his brother Gareth and a female partner – had been killed by officers at 10.30pm.

Constable Kirk was taken to hospital and treated in the nearby town of Chinchilla.

Both officers who were killed in the incident were based at Tara Police Station and previously worked in the Dalby region.

Constable McCrow had joined the forced in June 2021, while Constable Arnold became an officer in March 2020.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who himself is a former police officer, said the incident would send “shivers down the spine of any police officer attending any job today, right around the country”.

“And the families will be devastated. The families, the loved ones of those police officers who said goodbye for the last time yesterday, they will never ever recover from that,” he told the Nine Network.

“The police family is absolutely devastated. People will be scarred from the experience.

“It’s time for our community, for our country to come together around police and support them and always remember that they go into the line of fire and into that danger zone so that we don’t have to.

“We should be very grateful for the work and the sacrifice of these two officers yesterday, and spare a thought and a prayer today for all of those in the police family.”
South Australia Police offered condolences to their Queensland colleagues impacted by the tragedy.
“Tragically this is another reminder to all of us of the inherent dangers of police work. The loss of police lives affects all of the law enforcement community,” a statement read.
“The policing community will stand side by side with the loved ones of those courageous officers who lost their lives and those officers injured as a result of this incident offering what comfort we can to those affected by this tragedy.”