Three years ago on a remote Australian property, a trio of paranoid, deluded conspiracy theorists lay in wait.
The three members of the Train family spent a year preparing ambush positions for a confrontation with Queensland police at their home in Wieambilla, 270km west of Brisbane, believing the battle marked the end of the world.
They believed they needed “to defend themselves and their property from what they regarded was an evil advance on them”, a coronial inquest has now found.
The state coroner, Terry Ryan, on Friday accepted evidence by a forensic psychiatrist that they were gripped by a “folie a trois” – a shared psychotic disorder based on the psychotic paranoia of Gareth Train. It was adopted by his wife, Stacey, and his brother, Nathaniel – who were once married to each other and had previously worked as school principals.
Those delusions turned a routine response to a missing person’s report for Nathaniel – in which four young constables went to the Train’s property – into an hours-long gun battle on 12 December 2022.
In the end, six people – the Trains, constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, and a neighbour, Alan Dare – were dead.
“Quite frankly, they were morally insane,” the forensic psychiatrist, Dr Andrew Aboud, said of the Trains while giving evidence to the inquest last year.
“They did not know what they were doing was wrong. They felt justified in their actions.”
According to Ryan’s findings, the Trains believed they were serving “God’s will”. They believed the Covid-19 pandemic was evidence of a war between heaven and hell, a precursor to the second coming and that police wore “meat suits” and were demons. They were intent on killing them and would rather die than be taken into custody, Ryan said.
The deaths were due to those paranoid delusions – and could not be called an act of terrorism – Ryan found.
However, when addressing some of the Train’s beliefs in 2023, the Queensland Police Service came to a different conclusion. They described it as “a religiously motivated terrorist attack”.
Associate Prof Josh Roose of Deakin University gave evidence at the inquest last year, and argued that even a mentally ill person could act with intention.
“It’s a brand new world in so many ways, people spend enormous amounts of time online. People’s distrust in government has significantly increased,” he told the Guardian before the coroner handed down his findings.
‘No match’
On the day of the shootings, four Queensland police officers from two police stations, Chinchilla and Tara, were tasked with making a missing person search and executing an arrest warrant at the remote property at 251 Wains Road, Wieambilla.
Constables Arnold, McCrow, Randall Kirk and Keely Brough hopped the fence to enter the “bush block”.
Ryan found the weapons they carried “were no match” for the high-powered rifles used by the shooters, who were in ambush positions.
“Once the shooting commenced, the officers’ Glocks [handguns] were woefully inadequate for defending themselves,” he said.
Arnold and McCrow died at the scene. Kirk was hit with gunshots as he fled to their vehicle. Brough hid in dense bushland, with the Trains trying to flush her out by lighting a fire. Both Kirk and Brough survived.
Dare, who from his neighbouring property had seen the fire, was shot dead when he went to investigate the blaze.
Hours later, the Trains were shot and killed by officers of the special emergency response team. Ryan said their actions were appropriate, proportional and lawful.
He described the actions of police that day as “brave”.
(December 1, 2022)
Nathaniel Train reported missing to NSW police. There is also a warrant out for his arrest on firearms charges. This is referred to Queensland police.
(December 10, 2022)
Gareth is informed by email about the missing person's report and responds with a message including anti-police comments.
(December 12, 2022)
Job assigned to Chinchilla police, who seek assistance from Tara police. Four police travel to the property.
(December 12, 2022) 4.35pm
Constables Matthew Arnold, Rachel McCrow, Randall Kirk and Keely Brough arrive at 251 Wains Road, Wieambilla.
(December 12, 2022) 4.37pm
Nathaniel Train shoots Const Arnold dead from a prepared ambush position, known as a "hide".
(December 12, 2022) 4.46pm
Const McCrow, who had been wounded by rifle fire, is shot dead at close range by Gareth Train. She pleads for her life.
(December 12, 2022) 5.30pm
Civilian Alan Dare killed by a gunshot to the torso from an unknown Train after going to the property to fight a fire. Wife Kelly is not told of the shooting incident during a 000 call.
(December 12, 2022) 5.30pm
Police issue public service preservation act warning for the Wieambilla area, banning civilian movement.
(December 12, 2022) 6.37pm
Const Brough rescued by uniformed police extraction team. They also remove bodies of McCrow and Arnold, but not Dare.
(December 12, 2022) 7.40pm
Police special emergency response team arrive and take over the police inner cordon.
(December 12, 2022) 10.39pm
Last of the Trains, Nathaniel, is killed by operators from the police special emergency response team. Shooting ends.
Ryan also found the Train’s actions were fundamentally understood – by them – to be defensive and did not meet the legal definition of an act of terrorism.
“The Trains’ beliefs, though wrong, meant that they posed an extreme risk of danger to any police officer or other authority figure who might have attended their property,” he found.
But Roose says online radicalism has to be taken into account by emergency services, like police, fire fighters and paramedics.
“I think what we now see is an increasingly older cohort of men in particular, who are likely to carry out violent acts,” he says.
The recommendations
Ryan held five weeks of hearings for his inquest, aided by police taking statements from more than 150 witnesses and by reviewing video and forensic evidence.
He found that at least some of the firearms and ammunition used by the Trains was lawfully obtained and that Nathaniel, a weapons licence holder, was suffering a significant mental illness.
Among his 10 recommendations was that a review be carried out of the feasibility of mandatory mental health assessments for weapons licence applicants.
He also called for better information sharing between state police services, additional aerial resources and better training for operators handling calls to emergency services.
But he also rejected calls for additional police equipment. He found that “it is difficult to see how any responding officers could have been adequately equipped to respond to the events as they unfolded”.
After his findings were handed down, McCrow’s mother, Judy, read a statement on behalf of the victims’ families.
“These recommendations, of course, come too late for Matt and Rachel and Alan Dare, who we believe should still be alive today if better processes were in place,” she said.
“We are initially disappointed with the coronial recommendations, but we need time to read, process and respond to the findings and ensure that as families, our concerns and issues that were raised during this process have been listened to and respected.”
