Wieambilla shootout: Young officer Keely Brough texted friends and family, thought ‘it was her time’

Keeley Brough, hiding in brush after two of her colleagues were executed, didn’t know whether she was going to be shot or if she would be burnt alive.

Keeley Brough. Picture: Facebook

Constable Keely Brough, just 28 years old and a police officer for only eight weeks, hid in the long grass, fearing for her life.

Two of her police colleagues – Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29 – had just been gunned down and executed. She had watched it happen. Another constable, Randall Kirk, was wounded but able to escape.

Knowing Constable Brough had fled and was hiding, the gunmen set fire to the grass she sought refuge in. They tried to coax her out and end her too.

Constable Brough, sworn into the force in October, called for help to assist her colleagues.

She also texted some friends and family, not knowing if she would survive the massacre.

Constables Arnold and Mc­Crow had just jumped the fence to a property in rural Queensland. Along with Constables Brough and Kirk, the four officers were conducting a routine missing person inspection.

But they faced a “hail of gunfire” and the entire group was ­ambushed by three unrelenting killers, Queensland Police Union chief Ian Leavers said on Tuesday.

“(Brough) took cover in long grass. And those people showed no compassion in any way, shape or form,” Mr Leavers told Sky News.

“They actually lit the grass on fire to try and have her stand up so they could shoot her dead. She did not know whether she was going to be shot or burnt alive.”

A 16-strong Special Emergency Response Team was sent in to rescue Constable Brough, reaching her before the gunmen did.

She was taken to hospital and later released.

Earlier, Mr Leavers said she had contacted family and friends. Maybe to talk with them for what she thought could have been the last time.

“I do know she was sending messages to loved ones saying she almost was (at) the point where she thought it was her time,” he told ABC News Breakfast.

“What was going through her mind, one cannot comprehend.

“She has only been in the police service just over eight weeks. She is just an amazing young police­woman.

“Her training came in … what she was able to do when she ­believed her life was about to come to an end – she never stopped trying to do the right thing and communicate with her colleagues.”

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll commended Constables Brough and Kirk, who are both from Chinchilla police station.

“They bravely did what they could to save their colleagues in the most horrendous circumstances,” she said. “Their bravery was beyond belief.”

Ms Carroll said she went to the scene, which she described as “unimaginable”, and believed none of the officers stood a chance.

“The fact that two got out alive is a miracle,” she said. “To think that they survived the scene, let alone then got out to make phone calls and call for assistance, was just extraordinary.

“I will shortly meet with Keely, and I know that she’s … talked people through what took place. And the people who I have spoken to cannot believe how she survived and what she did during that ­period of time.”

Mr Leavers said none of the ­officers – who are all under the age of 30 and who had only recently started their careers – expected to be ambushed.

“As soon as they (Arnold and McCrow) jumped that fence they were met with a hail of gunfire. They immediately fell to the ground,” Mr Leavers told ABC News breakfast.

“Their other two colleagues (Brough and Kirk) they were able to retreat and take cover.

“What I do know then is that these ruthless, murderous people then went an executed the two police who were on the ground.

“They were executed in cold blood.”