Inside deadly siege at cop killers’ home

A trio of shooters who murdered two constables and a neighbour erected a “barricade” to slow down a heavily armoured vehicle and used mirrors to disorient responding police, a court has been told.

The coronial inquest into the deadly massacre at Wieambilla is now going inside the deadly siege by tactical police who swarmed the rural Queensland property in response.

Queensland Police constables Rachel McCrow, 29, and Matthew Arnold, 26, were murdered by members of the Train family – Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey – at the Wains Rd property on December 12, 2022.

The Trains’ neighbour Alan Dare, 58, was also murdered investigating fires lit by the group.

Two other constables – Keely Brough and Randall Kirk – survived.

All three members of the Train family were killed by highly trained special emergency response team (SERT) officers during a lengthy shootout later that night.

Detective Senior Sergeant Nathan McCormack, who was the lead investigator into the deadly siege, revealed the extent of the Trains’ planning in response to the responding SERT teams.

He gave evidence on Tuesday how the Trains had modified their property, including placing a “barricade” to hamper the SERT team’s BearCat vehicle as it drove towards the house.

The barricade – consisting of logs and metal – was placed on a curve in the road leading to the house in a bid to slow down the vehicle.

Team 2 from SERT followed the BearCat vehicle onto the property, with footage from the team capturing the Trains opening fire.

Sergeant McCormack told the court the team established “a large amount of interactions with Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey”.

“It has audio beside the vehicle. Shots can be heard striking the vehicle,” he said.

The same team flanked the BearCat after it breached a barricade to the Trains’ property.

Sergeant McCormack said several mirrors were also placed around the driveway and near the log.

He explained they reflected the light from the approaching BearCat and hampered SERT officers’ approach.

Several CDs were found in various places around the property, including the fence.

Sergeant McCormack said he couldn’t speculate on why this was the case but suggested it was because the CDs had a similar “reflective” surface.

The court was told police attempted to recover footage from the BearCat vehicle, which had built-in cameras, but there were issues with accessing the videos.

No cameras were fitted to the vehicle used by Team 4, Sergeant McCormack said.

Instead, footage from SERT Teams 2 and 3, Polair helicopters and a drone were used during his investigation.

Sergeant McCormack said he was able to distil a “chronology” of events using the footage to determine how the incident unfolded.

He gave evidence he then interviewed operatives involved and conducted walk-throughs of the Trains’ property.

“It was just to keep it fresh in their minds and obtain the correct version as quickly as possible,” Sergeant McCormack said.

Police officers gave evidence earlier in the inquest of their actions responding to the shooting, including the recovery of the slain constables and Mr Dare.

Sergeant McCormack said 19 SERT operatives – including the then-commander Tim Partridge – were deployed in response to the Wieambilla incident.

They included three light armour vehicles, the BearCat and four negotiators.

Loudspeakers were used to negotiate with the Trains in vain and calls were made to their phones, Sergeant McCormack said.

He told the court different radios had to be used due to the Trains taking the slain constables’ radios.

On one side of the Trains’ house, an L-shaped log was positioned close to the steps where Nathaniel and Gareth were firing on police.

An image was shown to the court displaying one of the rifles positioned on the log, along with bags, blankets and a large hunting knife.

Aerial images presented in court showed the extent of the Trains’ modifications to the property – including establishing an “observation point” in vegetation.

The court was told several felled trees were also held by rope.

Another image captured after the siege on December 13 displayed patches of burnt vegetation.

Earlier in the inquest the court was told these fires were lit by the Trains to flush out Constable Brough as she hid in grassland.

Attending police were ambushed by the brothers while conducting a welfare check on Nathaniel, a former NSW school principal who had been reported missing months prior.

The Trains followed an extremist Christian ideology known as premillennialism, believing Jesus Christ would return to earth after a period of extreme suffering.

The inquest continues.