Alan Dare’s widow given no warning as her husband headed towards Wieambilla shooters
The widow of Alan Dare, killed in the crossfire by brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train as they hunted down police on their remote property, has given harrowing evidence | WATCH
A triple-0 operator did not warn Kerry Dare there was an active shooter targeting police near her Wieambilla home, before her husband was fatally shot while investigating plumes of smoke and gunfire nearby.
The third day of the coronial inquest into the shooting death of two constables and good Samaritan neighbour Alan Dare heard Ms Dare did not get a chance to tell her husband to stay home before he left their remote 40ha property on December 12, 2022.
Despite making two calls to triple-0 that afternoon, the Dares were unaware their neighbours, conspiracy theorist brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train, had ambushed four officers who entered their property just after 4.30pm.
The pair killed constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold and injured another, Randall Kirk, who managed to escape.
The Trains then set fire to scrub to try to force Keely Brough, a police officer of only nine weeks, out of her hiding place in the bush. While concealed, Constable Brough called triple-0 to rescue her, staying on the line for more than two hours.
Recordings of two calls placed by Ms Dare to triple-0 were played to the inquest on Wednesday. In the second call, which began at 5:17pm, the grandmother tells the operator the smoke was getting “very bad”.
The operator replies: “I’ve got a job on in the area, OK, but I’m just going to put this on so I know what’s open. It’s a completely different job.”
The operator did not tell Ms Dare that the other call – placed to another operator – was from Constable Brough attempting to shelter from the gunmen and the fire at the Trains’ property, just 600m from the Dares’ home.
Ms Dare is asked whether she can hear voices and yelling, but she says no. In the recording, the Dares can be heard having a conversation before Ms Dare tells the operator that her husband was going to investigate the fire.
The operator says: “I know this sounds bad … I am going to absolutely advise against that.”
She did not explain why she issued the warning, and did not mention the active shooter.
Alan Dare had left in his four-wheel drive to meet neighbour Victor Lewis, who was heading to meet him on a quad bike.
Ms Dare told the inquest the triple-0 responder should have spoken faster so she could warn her husband.
When the two friends arrived at the Trains’ property, they found a car alight just outside the fence. Mr Lewis told the inquest he assumed it was a burnt-out stolen car, not realising it was a police vehicle belonging to two officers who had just been shot.
Alan Dare began recording the flames on his phone camera, and inadvertently captured his own death on video.
Suddenly, he fell to the ground. His friend didn’t know why at first, and turned the injured man on to his side in the recovery position. It was only then he saw the blood and realised he had been shot.
Ms Dare was not told her husband had died until 6:30pm. She described her treatment by police as “disgusting and immoral”.
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