‘Devastating day’: PM reflects on Qld shootings as police look for answers

Forensic officers have spent the day scouring the scene of an ambush and siege that left six people dead at a property in Queensland’s Western Downs.

Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and 58-year-old local man Alan Dare were shot dead at a Wieambilla property on Monday afternoon.

Police have paid tribute to constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, gunned down after the siege.Credit: Queensland Police

Two other officers involved in the call-out survived the initial hail of bullets and helped raise the alarm.

Dare, who lived down the road, is believed to have been drawn to the property by the sound of gunshots and a subsequent fire, only to fall victim himself. He had been due to celebrate his wedding anniversary with wife Kerry in the coming days.

That night, after a six-hour police operation, police shot and killed the two owners of the property, Gareth Train, 47, Stacey Train, 45, and former Walgett school principal Nathaniel Train, 46, who was Gareth’s brother.

Police, including homicide squad detectives and ethical standards officers, were on Tuesday trying to piece together the events of the day before. Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission will oversee the investigation, and a report will be prepared for the state coroner.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday afternoon paid tribute to the slain officers and Dare, saying their lives had been “cruelly cut short”.

“This is, indeed, a devastating day for everyone who loved these Australians, and our hearts go out to those in the grip of terrible grief,” Albanese said.

“We know that this news has fallen heart and hard on a close-knit and caring Queensland community. As well as, of course, the community to which all police officers belong.”

With flags flying at half-mast across Queensland, Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll described the four officers who first went to the property as “committed and courageous young people”.

“It is an unimaginable tragedy,” Carroll told reporters, adding that there was “considerable weaponry” on the property.

“In my opinion, those officers didn’t stand a chance.”

Carroll said it was “a miracle” two officers survived; Constable Randall Kirk, 28, was shot but managed to escape with colleague Constable Keely Brough, also 28.

Brough managed to call for back-up and messaged loved ones she thought she would die.

“The people I have spoken to cannot believe how she survived and what she did during that time,” Carroll said.

“As you could appreciate, as things unravel that quickly, in what is one of the most complex and horrendous environments you can be in, it’s going to take us a number of days, if not weeks, to unravel every single aspect of the scene and every single second of what took place.”

As the ambush became a nighttime siege, in sparsely wooded country and gas fields, specialist police from nearby towns and Brisbane swarmed the area and locals were ordered to stay inside.

It took 16 officers to extract the surviving officers from the scene and confirm their colleagues were dead.

The house on Wains Road in Wieambilla, Queensland, where six people including two police constables were shot dead.

Police have yet to comment in detail on the nature of the callout to the property, and why four officers attended, other than to say it related to Nathaniel Train being listed as a missing person in NSW.

Nathaniel Train, who previously worked in several Queensland schools, was a well-regarded principal in Walgett but left after experiencing health problems.

It is not known why he sought refuge with his brother, who posted various conspiracy theories online and did not trust police.

The sparsely populated area is home to several large properties and gas fields. It lies between the regional centre of Chinchilla, population 7068, and Tara to the south-west.

Tara Police Station, where slain officers Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold were based.Credit: Cloe Read

The officers who were killed were stationed in Tara - Stacey Train had worked at the local school for a period - where locals expressed shock and outrage at the incident.

Belle Armstrong knew Arnold from the pub where she works, and said he was “just a really friendly person” who sought to get to know people in the community.

“Even when he’d pull you over, he’d still have a smile on his face,” Armstrong said.

“Everybody knows everybody here. I did know Rachel but not as well.

“They were both very spirited, lovely people”.

McCrow had previously volunteered to support disadvantaged young people in Townsville.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the slain officers “were so young, so young - they were incredibly brave”.

“Our hearts just break,” Palaszczuk said.

“These are things we often hear about happening in other countries.”

Police Union president Ian Leavers said the shooting of the two junior police officers was an “execution”, adding it was a miracle the other officers were alive.

“It happened that quickly, I would say they were executed by these remorseless, ruthless killers,” he said.

Pointedly, Leavers stood beside the commissioner and police minister at a press conference on Tuesday morning in Chinchilla.

Nathaniel Train.Credit: NSW Police

On Tuesday night, Carroll said she had spoken to the parents of the officers killed - “it’s beyond belief, the grief” - and also the survivors.

“I can’t believe they got out together,” the commissioner said.

“It was, in my opinion, an ambush.”

The shootings come a year after the final hearing of a coronial inquest into the death of Senior Constable Brett Forte, who was fatally shot and killed during a 20-hour siege with a wanted man in the Lockyer Valley in 2017.

State Coroner Terry Ryan, who examined the broader role of police, including practices and protocols in such incidents, has yet to deliver his findings.

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