Wieambilla police shooting: Stacey Train ran from home with firearm

Former students of Stacey Train have spoken out as new details emerge about her actions during a final, lethal confrontation with heavily armed police on Monday night.

A schoolteacher and mother-of-two, who along with two brothersambushed four young police officers, ran from her home with a firearm before being shot by heavily armed specialist officers.

This is the first photograph of 45-year-old Stacey Train, a former teacher and school principal who once worked with disadvantaged children but met her end as a cop-killer.

Stacey, along with brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train, was shot dead by Special Emergency Response Team police on Monday night after they killed two young officers and a neighbour on their Darling Downs property.

Stacey Train. Picture: Louise Cheer/News Corp

Two crews arrived at the Trains’ Wieambilla home around 4.30pm Monday to make routine inquiries about a missing person – Nathaniel Train.

Nathaniel, also a former school principal, had been reported missing to New South Wales police earlier in the month.

When police approached the house, the trio opened fire, killing Constable Matthew Arnold and Constable Rachel McCrow.

The trio also shot and killed neighbour Alan Dare when he came to investigate.

Another officer, Constable Randall Kirk, was shot in the leg and escaped in the police car. His partner, Keely Brough, ran into the bush and hid.

Train was the former Head of Curriculum at Tara State College. Picture: Liam Kidston

The Trains set fires to flush her out and continued to fire rounds into the trees until she managed to escape.

Locals in the nearby town of Tara, spoke of the “reclusive” nature of the Train family.

Stacey married Nathaniel in the 1990s and the couple had two children but was believed to have entered a relationship with his brother Gareth more recently.

A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said Stacey, a former teacher and Head of Curriculum at Tara Shire State College had not been seen in the quiet town for “at least a year”.

Locals said that while Stacey hadn’t been seen for some time, Nathaniel was often spotted at the Tara FoodWorks.

The road leading into the property where four Queensland police officers were ambushed in a deadly attack on Monday. Picture David Clark NCA/Newswire

An alert put out by NSW Police earlier this month said he was last seen in Dubbo a year ago but had been in contact with family until October 9, 2022.

Former students of Tara Shire State College spoke of Stacey Train’s “quiet disposition”.

“We would see (Stacey) around the school grounds but she would keep to herself,” they said.

“We would often see Stacey and Nathaniel outside The Commercial Hotel but as far as we were concerned Gareth never existed.”

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said this week the four officers visited the Wieambilla home at the request of NSW police.

In 2004, Stacey spoke to media as a new teaching recruit at Charters Towers State High School.

She said it had been a difficult year for education graduates to find jobs.

“This year, there just weren’t a lot of jobs around,’’ Stacey said at the time.

Stacey was also the principal at Proston State School, north of Kingaroy.

Constable Rachel McCrow.

Constable Matthew Arnold, 29. Picture: Facebook

She said she had wanted to work in a regional area with a community feel and smaller class sizes.

``All teachers are on a learning journey and many choose to start it here,’’ she said.

Three years later she was the head of department for secondary schooling at Herberton State School.

“The main focus is that we’ve moved away from a traditional secondary schooling,” she

“Studies have shown that grade six-10 students often disengage from learning.

“We’re evolving all the time to meet the needs of our kids.”

It is believed Stacey resigned from her most recent job just as Covid-19 vaccination requirements came in.

She was the dux of Harristown High School in Toowoomba in 1994 and received an OP1, according to people who knew her.

Then Stacey Christoffel, she married Nathaniel Train soon after high school finished.

In an eerie schoolbook quote it says her ambition is “to live her life without worrying about what others think”.

“We’re all in shock that our friend was involved in this shooting,” a former friend said.

“I think the most mind-blowing thing is she was the sweetest, kindest, smartest girl around.

“In terms of her nature, she was really quiet.

“She was always very religious. And I was always perplexed her ambition was to just get married and have kids because she was just so damn smart.”

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll earlier this week confirmed all three Train family members were “considered offenders”.

Asked to describe the scene at the rural property, she said her officers were very exposed when they came under fire.

“I won’t go into too much of that other than to say that when you are in that scene, walking towards the house and where this apparently took place, they were in an exposed area, where I will go back to say that I cannot believe that two officers got out alive.”

Originally published as Wieambilla police shooting: Stacey Train ran from home with firearm