A Queensland police officer hurt in a shooting ambush in which two fellow officers and a neighbour were killed has thanked “everyone from the prime minister down” for their messages of support.
Constables Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, along with 58-year-old resident Alan Dare were gunned down in an ambush and siege at the property at Wieambilla in the western downs region on Monday.
Constables Randall Kirk and Keely Brough, both 28, escaped but the former was hit by gunfire and injured.
Kirk, who is expecting his second child with his wife, Breanna next month, is recovering from surgery to remove shrapnel and will soon be released from hospital to recover at home.
The couple said they were overwhelmed by the messages of support from the public and “everyone from the prime minister down”.
“I’m feeling fine, just a little sore,” Kirk said in a statement released by the union. “My main thoughts are with the other police families at this awful time. It means a lot to know the community cares for us all.
“My wife and I have a young family and would appreciate privacy as we come to terms with this.”
Queensland’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, on Wednesday told Guardian the decision to send four officers to the property was not unusual, and officers had arrived feeling “very, very comfortable about the job”.
The fact four officers attended the scene in the first place has caused some to wonder whether police had concerns about what reaction they might receive at the property.
But speaking to Guardian Australia in Chinchilla, Carroll insisted there was nothing to suggest it was anything but a routine job.
“It is not unusual for two neighbouring stations to come together to respond to those jobs,” Carroll said. “That’s not unusual in this part of the world, because some of those areas are in remote properties, so it really is a BAU [business as usual] response.”
Carroll was speaking in front of the Chinchilla police station moments before boarding a plane to Toowoomba to meet Kirk, and later to Brisbane, to meet his and Brough’s parents.
She said she had made inquiries as to whether the officers had concerns about their task that fatal day, to which the answer was “definitely not at all”.
“But certainly junior officers going out, the officers in charge had spoken to them, they were very, very comfortable about the job. It was a BAU job … certainly not unusual,” she said.
The police commissioner said investigators would investigate reports the brothers were in a love triangle with Stacey Train, and were also delving into Gareth’s history of posting in an online conspiracy community, revealed by Guardian Australia on Tuesday.
“You’ve got to take everything seriously,” she said, adding: “We will interrogate every part of those people’s lives, not just in recent weeks but over the last 12 months, years if need be. Speak to family. Speak to friends. Look at every part of their lives to find out why this happened.”
The healing of psychological wounds was also something Carroll said would take a long time.
Carroll said the two surviving officers were “so grateful to be alive” but “so saddened to have lost their colleagues”.
“They will need support for a long time,” she said. “And they will get that support.”
