Minute-by-minute account of how crazed gunmen ambushed, killed police and neighbour in horrific Wieambilla massacre revealed

Two police officers and an innocent civilian were gunned down at a rural property by a trio of crazed gunmen. Now, an inquest has been given a minute-by-minute account of the harrowing ordeal.

A precise timeline of how the harrowing moments two police officers and a good Samaritan were brutally gunned down during an ambush at a rural Queensland property have been made public for the first time.

A coronial inquest into the murders of constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, civilian Alan Dare and the shooting deaths of Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train began on Monday.

The two constables were killed within minutes of arriving at the Trains’ Wains Rd property in Wieambilla on December 12, 2022.

Constable Matthew Arnold and Constable Rachel McCrow were gunned down at the Wieambilla property.

They’d arrived with constables Randall Kirk and Keely Brough to conduct a missing persons inquiry but instead were ambushed by brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train, who had set up an elaborate scheme to murder police, whom they considered to be the enemy.

The two brothers and Gareth’s wife, Stacey, had prescribed to an extremist Christian ideology known as “premillennialism” and carried out their religiously motivated terrorist attack when police arrived at their home.

Mr Dare was also killed by his neighbours when he saw smoke coming from the Trains’ property and came to investigate.

The harrowing moments the officers being hunted and killed were captured on their body-worn camera, which later provided the inquest great insight to what happened on that horrific day.

Here’s how their final moments unfolded:

4pm – All four constables attend their stations, in Tara and Chinchilla, to start their shift before being called out to 251 Wains Rd, Wieambilla.

The code 3 job was to carry out a missing persons welfare check and to issue a warrant on Nathaniel over firearms he’d discarded months prior while illegally crossing the Queensland border during Covid-19 lockdowns.

4.35pm – The four constables arrive in two separate vehicles at the Train family’s locked front gate. They park their cars and jump over the gate to start walking in a line up the dirt driveway, with Constable Brough on the far left, Constables Kirk and McCrow walking in the middle and Constable Arnold on the far right.

4.37pm – A single shot is heard and Constable Arnold is killed instantly. He was only 120m from the front gate.

Constable Arnold was killed less than two minutes after he arrived at the property.

Constable Randall Kirk’s body-worn camera shows his position from where he retreated to temporary safety.

Constable Kirk immediately yells “get back, get back” to his fellow officers.

He commando crawls along the grass and is able to get behind a tree to the left of the driveway and further back from the front gate.

He is about 30m away from where Constable McCrow has dropped to her hands and knees as she moves off to the left of the driveway and slightly back.

But while she attempts to get to safety, she is shot in the back while trying to call for help on her police radio.

Constable Brough is able to crawl to some grassy bushland where she attempts to use her police radio to call for urgent assistance.

None of the three remaining officers are able to get a signal on their radio.

Meanwhile, Mr Dare and his wife, Kerry, think they hear gunshots around this time but don’t think it is out of the ordinary for where they live.

4.38pm – Constable McCrow is again shot in the lower right leg and upper left leg while trying to call for help using her police radio.

As Constable Kirk remains hidden behind a tree, he calls his supervisor, Acting Sergeant Justin Drier, on his phone to give a situational report (sit rep) about the shooting.

He tells Sergeant Drier that a man had shot at them, and he believed Constable Arnold had been shot.

He reports that the man had a rifle and is coming over to them before their phone call ends.

Constable McCrow managed to record on her body-worn footage a message of love to her family moments before her death.

4.40pm – Constable McCrow records a sit rep on her body-worn camera, explaining she’s been shot three times and records message of love to her family.

Constable Kirk again attempts to use his radio to call for help, saying “urgent, urgent, urgent, shots fired”.

Calling Sergeant Drier again, he tells him two officers are down and he thinks Constable Brough is to his left but he can’t see her from where he has hidden.

He stays on the phone and continues to give a detailed report about what he can see.

4.42pm – Dalby constables Matthew Owen and Christopher Sharman hear over police radio “urgent, urgent, urgent, shots fired” and leave Dalby to travel to Wains Rd.

4.44pm – Constable Brough calls triple-0 on her mobile to provide a sit rep. She remains on the phone for the next two hours while hiding from the Train brothers as they light fires to try to flush her out.

She tells the dispatcher the brothers are wearing camouflage and both have rifles.

At times while speaking she has to whisper because Nathaniel and Gareth are so close she thinks she is going to die.

Constable Keely Brough escaped the shooting at the Wieambilla property.

The Trains tried to smoke her out of her hiding spot by lighting fires on their rural property.

4.45pm – Constable McCrow is recorded saying a man, later confirmed as Gareth, is coming towards her.

She fires 15 shots from her pistol and pleads with him as he approaches.

4.46pm – After a brief verbal exchange, Gareth murders Constable McCrow by shooting her at close range.

Upon hearing the shot that killed Constable McCrow, Constable Kirk discharges his firearm.

A man’s voice is captured on Constable Arnold and Constable McCrow’s body-worn cameras saying, “That was a mistake, boys” and “Come out, come out and get on the f**king ground or you die”.

4.47pm – Inspector Wayne Rasmussen has been named in charge of the Police Forward Command that’s to be set up near the property.

4.48pm – Still on the phone, Sergeant Drier tells Constable Kirk to “look after yourself” as he makes the decision to run from his hiding spot back to his car at the front gate.

He told Sergeant Drier he knew the brothers were hunting him.

The brothers are heard in audio saying “there he is, let’s go” and fire nine shots at him while he runs, striking him on the hip during the ordeal.

Miraculously, he was able to safely make it back to his car and drive to safety.

He phoned Sergeant Drier once more to tell him he thinks he’s been shot.

4.49pm – After Constable Kirk escapes, one of the brothers’ can be heard on Constable Arnold’s body-worn camera saying, “There’s one more somewhere”.

At about the same time, Constable Brough tells the dispatcher, “I think they know I’m here, I’m scared.”

Constable Randall Kirk was shot at nine times while he tried to escape. Picture: Dan Peled / NewsWire

Constable Kirk’s body-worn footage shows the moment he was able to run for safety back to his car.

5.05pm – One of the brothers can be heard on body-worn camera saying, “Set the f**ker on fire, you got a light”, which investigators believe is in reference to the Trains deciding to set the Tara police car on fire.

5.13pm – Mrs Dare calls triple-0 for the first time and reports gunshots and the fires they could see.

Her husband drives to their front gate to get a better idea of where the fires are coming from.

5.15pm – Queensland Police Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) deploys four vehicles to Wains Rd, including a Bearcat.

5.17pm – Mrs Dare calls triple-0 back to give an update about the fire.

During her call, Mr Dare drives off to investigate further with his neighbour, Victor Lewis.

She never sees her husband alive again.

Alan and Kerry Dare were concerned when they smelt smoke.

Victor Lewis went to investigate the fires with his neighbour, Mr Dare. Picture: Dan Peled / NewsWire

5.20pm – Constables Owen and Sharman arrive near the Train property, where they meet Constable Craig Loveland who has travelled from Tara after hearing the code 1 job over the radio.

5.22pm – Mr Dare and Mr Lewis discover a car on fire at the front gate of 521 Wains Rd.

5.30pm – Mr Dare is fatally shot without warning from considerable distance in the torso.

Mr Lewis leaves to seek assistance and comes across constables Owen, Sharman and Loveland.

He tells them: “I think my mate’s been shot.”

Constable Owen gives a sit rep about the latest shooting outside the property and all four men leave the area to safety.

Inspector Rasmussen makes a Public Safety Preservation Act declaration for an area that encompassed about four kilometres.

6pm – Sergeant Werner Crous arrives and takes over the command. He creates a plan deemed a retrieval and recovery process.

6.12pm – A decision is made that the officers armed with rifles would go into the property to retrieve Constable Brough.

6.14pm – Three police vehicles move towards the property with several general duties officers acting as the extraction team.

6.22pm – The police vehicles pull over and the extraction team continues to the property on foot behind the vehicles being used to provide them with some concealment.

6.28pm – They discover Mr Dare’s body near the driveway.

6.29pm – The extraction team arrives at the front gate and begins the co-ordination and extraction of Constable Brough.

The burnt-out police car was found at the front gate.

6.37pm – Constable Brough is given the verbal code of “pink and blue” by the dispatcher. It means that it is safe for her to make a run to the gate where the extraction team is waiting for her.

The extraction team uses Mr Dare’s Ford Territory, which was where he’d left it with the keys in the ignition when he arrived to investigate the fire, to extract her from the scene.

6.42pm – A police vehicle breaks through the front gate and drives along the driveway.

The SERT commander briefs officers about the incident as they continue travelling to the scene.

6.46pm – The extraction team confirms that the bodies of constables Arnold and McCrow have been removed from the property.

A decision is made that it is too dangerous and logistically difficult to move Mr Dare’s body at that time.

6.50pm – The driveway is blocked to prevent the Train family from leaving.

6.54pm – Polair 1 positions itself above the property.

7pm – Gunshots are heard from the property by police.

Gareth intermittently shoots at Polair 1 from his car near the house for the next 15 minutes.

While he is shooting, Stacey places two cups on the table outside their house.

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

Stacey and Gareth Train had lived at Wieambilla for about 12 months.

7.03pm – Police vehicles activate their lights to let Polair 1 know where they were.

7.04pm – The Trains fire at the police vehicles after spotting their headlights, forcing police to retreat on foot after their cars fail to start.

7.31pm – Polair 1 see Gareth and Stacey sitting at the table outside their home while Nathaniel lays beside them near a log barricade.

It’s while they’re sitting there that the couple record a video that they upload to a now deleted YouTube account confirming they’ve killed the police officers who they refer to as “devils and demons”.

Stacey and Gareth Train recorded a video shortly after they murdered three people.

7.40pm – SERT officers arrive at the police command.

8.06pm – The Bearcat and three light armoured vehicles move towards the house from the police command.

8.25pm – SERT officers arrive at the front gate of the property.

8.30pm – SERT team 3 pushes through the front gate, allowing the remaining officers to move in.

9.05pm – The SERT commander takes over command from Inspector Rasmussen.

9.10pm – Polair 2 arrives as the SERT teams moved up the driveway to take their positions near the house.

Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel still near the table where the video was filmed.

Stacey Train stands on the steps of her Wieambilla home with her rifle moments before she was fatally shot by police. Picture: QPS

9.12pm – Negotiators attempt to get the Trains to surrender.

It’s been decided that if the Trains comply, they will be arrested.

Attempts to call the six mobile phone numbers linked to the Trains are made every five minutes, but all phones have been switched off.

The Trains never respond to the negotiation attempts and all attempts are either ignored or met with gunfire.

A loudspeaker in the Bearcat is also used to negotiate with them.

9.13pm – Gareth shines a powerful roof-mounted hunting light from his HiLux on the Bearcat.

Stacey enters the house, and Nathaniel moves to the table.

The Bearcat is stopped by a barricade about 100m from the house before it is shot at by Gareth and Nathaniel.

As the Bearcat retreats, several rounds strike the vehicle, including the windscreen.

Gareth continues to intermittently fire rounds in the Bearcat’s direction until about 10.04pm.

The final moments of the intense shootout with the Train family. Picture: QPS

10.04pm – Gareth is understood to have retreated to the water tank where he starts firing at Polair 2.

SERT officers fire their first shot towards Gareth and hit the water tank instead.

Both brothers then take what would become their final positions, with Gareth by the water tank and Nathaniel by a log barricade near the table.

10.05pm – The Bearcat approaches the house again as negotiators make further attempts to ask the Trains to drop their weapons.

In response, Nathaniel fires on the Bearcat, forcing it to retreat again.

10.31pm – As Gareth and Nathaniel both continue firing at SERT officers, the team 3 vehicle is struck by a bullet. 

The SERT Bearcat vehicle that was shot at by Nathaniel Train using Constable Matthew Arnold’s pistol.

10.32pm – While Gareth attempts to reload his weapon, SERT officers fatally shoot him in the head and the hip.

Nathaniel fires at the Bearcat and officers return fire.

Stacey is on the stairs of the house. She also fires her rifle towards the Bearcat before she retreats inside the house.

10.36pm – Stacey re-emerges from the house and fires a shot with her rifle. She is then fatally shot from a gunshot wound to the head.

Nathaniel Train hid behind a log barricade as he shot at police, including using Constable Arnold’s pistol that lay on the table.

10.39pm – Nathaniel fires Constable Arnold’s Glock at the Bearcat.

He is then struck and dies from a gunshot wound to his head, left knee and right lower chest.

10.41pm – All SERT teams move forwards to clear the house and check for signs of life for each of the Trains. First aid is provided to Gareth and Nathaniel.

Queensland Ambulance Service provides life extinct certificates for Nathaniel at 11.25pm, Stacey at 11.30pm and Gareth at 11.34pm

The mammoth inquest continues on Monday.

Originally published as Minute-by-minute account of how crazed gunmen ambushed, killed police and neighbour in horrific Wieambilla massacre revealed