Wieambilla inquest: Bizarre stash cops found inside off-grid killers’ bush den revealed after they had brutally murdered two police officers
For Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey, living off-grid meant lots of books, plenty of toilet paper – and barricading their home because of a “religiously motivated terrorist attack”.
A five-week investigation is ongoing into the deaths of six people in December 2022 at the remote Trains property in Queensland’s Western Downs region, west of Brisbane.
An investigation will soon be launched into the motives for the trains and the events that led to the deadly shooting in Wieambilla, which shocked the nation.
However, the Brisbane court has already provided a glimpse into the Trains’ lifestyle.
Sergeant Kirsty Gleeson, a forensic coordinator who investigated the shooting, was one of the first to express an opinion.
“I wouldn’t say they were very sophisticated,” she told coroner Terry Ryan this week.
Gareth, 47, and Nathaniel, 46, were brothers. Gareth was married to Stacey, 45, who was Nathaniel’s ex-wife.
Together they ambushed and shot dead officers Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, and their neighbor Alan Dare, 58, before being killed in a shootout with tactical police.
Police officers Gareth and Stacey Train had already been spreading conspiracy theories before the incident
Former school principal Nathaniel Train was married to Stacey before she married his brother
It has been described as the first domestic terrorist attack in the country’s history inspired by extremist Christian ideology.
Senator Gleeson arrived shortly afterwards at the 107-hectare Wieambilla estate, west of Brisbane.
The eight-room house appeared designed for “off-grid living,” with water tanks, solar panels and no electricity grid.
When Senator Gleeson walked into the kitchen and past the empty bullet casings in the house, he found healthy food and toilet paper – lots of toilet paper.
“There wasn’t a lot of prepackaged food and a lot of non-perishables,” she told the coroner.
They kept a lot of toilet paper in their pantries.
“But there was, I think, healthy living, healthy eating in the kitchen.”
An object on the kitchen counter also caught Sergeant Gleeson’s attention.
It was a makeshift Faraday box, a container used to block electromagnetic fields and telephone signals.
There were six cell phones in it.
The investigation found that at one point during the six-hour police siege following the ambush, negotiators attempted to call the trains’ mobile phones every five minutes.
Attempts to negotiate with the trains were ignored or met with gunfire.
This provided image shows a barricade and sniper positions set up months before the killings
Police found a large amount of equipment and weapons, including arrows, in the building
The house, which had two bedrooms, did not contain much furniture, but there was plenty of reading material.
“They only had basic furniture. There were a large number of books,” said Sen Sgt Gleeson.
‘The bedrooms were again sparsely furnished. There were not many personal belongings in the wardrobes, drawers or cupboards.
“There were a number of diaries that were found. A number of little letters, little notes throughout the house.”
Books were also found on another part of the site, the snipers’ main hiding place.
About 200 yards away, at the end of their dirt driveway, was a tent with a double mattress.
More books were found in a hiding place, which was reached by a well-maintained path from the house
Guns and bullets were also found in and around the house, including this Ruger used by Gareth Train
Among the items found in the ‘mountain’ was a copy of the novel The Godfather.
There was a well-maintained path from the house to the sniper location, one of three ‘firing positions’ on the property.
Other ‘defensive measures’ included a metal-wood barricade along the driveway and three mirrors outside the house, which were intended to block the view of intruders.
Satellite images showed that the sniper positions and barricade had been in place since October 2022, two months before the deadly shooting.
Evidence showed that the elementary school’s former principal, Nathaniel Train, was at the main hiding spot and was following four officers using his high-powered rifle.
Officers Arnold and McCrow arrived along with two colleagues around 4:30 p.m. on December 12, 2022 for what they believed to be a routine missing persons investigation.
They jumped the fence. A coffee mug with “Have a Nice Day” written on it was stuck to a post by the front door.
This ‘Have A Nice Day’ coffee mug was stuck to a gate post at the entrance to the grounds
Officers Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow were shot and killed at 4:37 p.m. while attempting to locate the Nathaniel train
Without warning, Officer Arnold was shot in the chest and died.
Const McCrow was then shot in the back and legs as he tried to crawl.
She pleaded with Gareth Train before he fatally shot her in the head at close range, the inquest heard.
The trains were set on fire to drive off the other officers, who later managed to escape under heavy gunfire.
Good Samaritan Mr Dare was fatally injured when he arrived at the scene to investigate the fire.
Alan Dare, the Trains’ neighbor, was shot dead when he tried to find out what was going on
A drone photo of the Trains’ property taken by police and shown during the investigation
About six hours later, tactical police shot the trains dead within minutes of each other at the house after a shootout.
“I never saw Gareth, Stacey or Nathaniel surrender,” Detective Inspector Nathan McCormack told the inquiry.
“The only communication was that YouTube video (titled) ‘Don’t be Afraid.'”
Gareth and Stacey Train shot and uploaded the video to YouTube hours after the officers were killed, in which they called the police “devils and demons.”
Just minutes earlier, Stacey Train had emerged from the house to give the brothers cups of coffee after her husband fired at a flying police helicopter.
Police at the time said the Trains carried out a “religiously motivated terrorist attack” influenced by the fundamentalist Christian ideology of premillennialism, which believed the world would soon end.
The coroner heard that Gareth Train may have had a mental illness that led to a ‘shared psychotic disorder’ with his wife and brother.
Gareth Train was captured on Matthew Arnold’s bodycam removing his gear vest
An expert is expected to testify at the inquest that the Trains faced “identical persecution and religious beliefs that met the psychiatric definition of delusional.”
“COVID appears in many ways to have been a trigger for some of the events that occurred,” the lawyer representing Ruth O’Gorman at the inquiry said.
In March 2020, Gareth Train began posting conspiracy theories on social media, which were apparently shared by his wife.
In August, his brother adopted them, the judicial investigation revealed.
After Trains posted the YouTube video, tactical police arrived.
Unlike the four officers who were ambushed, the specialist police team was fully aware of the impending danger.
“I thought, who the hell shoots at the police and then just sits there and waits?” Detective Chief Inspector Timothy Partridge told the inquest.
The trains all fired at the police when they were shot in the head: Gareth at 10:32pm, Stacey at 10:36pm and Nathaniel at 10:39pm.