‘Run-of-the-mill job’: Four police sent with warrant for Wieambilla shooter

Queensland police say the brothers involved in last week’s fatal shootout in Wieambilla had a history of firearms breaches, with Nathaniel Train’s licence suspended and a warrant issued for his arrest after he dumped guns in floodwater during a COVID border control breach one year ago.

Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford told a media briefing that while the warrant and Nathaniel’s missing person status triggered multiple attempts to reach him at the rural property owned by brother Gareth Train and his wife Stacey, there were no “flags” suggesting danger.

Nathaniel Train was subject to an outstanding warrant over a border breach incident, Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford said.

The trio were shot and killed by specialist police after what has been described as an ambush of four young officers sent to the property on December 12. Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow were also killed, along with neighbour Alan Dare.

“We recognise that the events of last week pose significant public and media interest,” Linford said during a coroner-approved briefing that represented the most detailed public account of police knowledge before and after the shooting to date.

That knowledge did not extend to the conspiracist, anti-government and anti-police online footprint of Gareth and Stacey, some of which dated back two years under Gareth’s real name, Linford said.

Visits such as that by the four officers from nearby stations are “quite common” when there is an outstanding arrest warrant, Linford said, adding police “usually take some form of back-up”.

“This was a run-of-the-mill policing job. Our police attend addresses every day of the week and execute warrants on individuals,” she said.

“And given the fact that we had very little history or knowledge about … Nathaniel Train, there wasn’t anything to flag particular concern with our members who were attending the scene that day.”

The outstanding warrant was issued for Nathaniel’s arrest after the events of December 17 last year, when he reportedly cut a border gate from NSW in a vehicle carrying four firearms, two of which he dumped in floodwater after becoming trapped.

Nathaniel was also subject to a missing person report lodged this month by his NSW-based wife, who had been unable to contact him since May.

Linford said police had since tried multiple times to contact him at the property owned by Gareth and Stacey.

At least one instance involved police visiting the property – about three hours’ drive west of Brisbane and said to have featured an “advanced surveillance system” – in August, when officers were “unable to raise” anyone there.

Cards had been left, along with phone messages for Nathaniel. The four officers who arrived around the same time on December 12 would have known he had guns, Linford said.

As part of an ongoing investigation for the coroner, Queensland police are working with NSW counterparts to determine any history Nathaniel might have had south of the border. In Queensland, he had previously had only a 2014 driving offence.

In NSW, Nathaniel attempted court action in July against the state’s transport department in an apparent effort to appeal against a decision involving his driver’s licence. He did not appear in the matter – listed for the Walgett Local Court – which was dismissed on the grounds of “no jurisdiction”.

Gareth had been subject to a 1998 offence for possessing a firearm with an expired licence. Nathaniel’s gun licence had been suspended after the unsecure disposal of two weapons last December, Linford said.

At that stage, only people who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 were able to cross into Queensland from NSW, where Nathaniel had been working as a school principal before a health incident and his refusal to get vaccinated. Stacey had also left her Queensland teaching job to avoid COVID mandates.

Six guns were eventually seized from the property after the shooting – two licensed to Nathaniel, three unregistered, and one that police were looking into. Three compound bows, plus arrows and knives were also taken.

Linford said the Queensland Police Service’s security and counterterrorism team was also part of efforts to piece together what happened and why, but at this stage had not deemed the incident an act of terrorism.

Overseas law enforcement agencies had also been contacted as part of the investigation after links to a US-based figure were found among a trove of online activity from Gareth and Stacey.

Thousands of colleagues and dignitaries gathered to farewell slain constables Arnold and McCrow at a memorial in Brisbane on Wednesday, when the pair were awarded posthumous medals by Commissioner Katarina Carroll.

- With Zach Hope