Wieambilla army-style compound near site of Train family police shootings
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A short distance from where a prepper trio from the end of the world gunned down two young police officers, a strange compound hidden deep in a thick forest had already scared the locals for months.
The military-style structure in Queensland’s Condamine State Forest has a sophisticated security system, including 360-degree CCTV monitoring, military-style dongas, camouflage huts, as well as flags and trucks from the army.
Considering it’s just 20 minutes from the site of the deadly shooting, where Stacey, Nathaniel and Gareth Train ambushed and killed officers Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, it’s perhaps no surprise that people are worried.
It even has its own fictional roads, with street signs reading “Pioneers” and “First” roads on one of the posts covered with surveillance cameras.
After Daily Mail Australia photographed the camp and the images were passed on to police in the local town of Tara, detectives descended on the property to interview the owner, who had already alarmed the town by driving his army truck clad in Camouflage clothing.
The front fence of the property is packed with security cameras that focus on the road and have 360 degree rotation capability on the grounds that looks like a military style camp.
Owner Jessee Wood (pictured) complained that he was “interviewed by police and detectives for a few hours after people referred to us as 3-shooter-like-minded” and said “we don’t share the same ideals”.
The New Zealand and Australian flags fly from a pole above army donga row which a property manager told DMA was “to accommodate the workers”.
Jessee Wood had bought the 100-hectare block as a vacant bush block early last year, and in a matter of weeks the so-called “boot camp” seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere.
Tara residents said the rapid development and its apparent secrecy had set off alarm bells.
The plot, more than twice the size of Trains’ Wieambilla block, did not have an existing house and does not have a development application (DA) for a dwelling.
Western Downs Regional Council told Daily Mail Australia that they are “aware of the structures currently located on the site and are in discussions with the owner about their future use” but had no current information on what it is used for.
When the Mail stopped at the South Road property to inquire about its purpose, a man with a large pitbull dog on a leash came out to say that the army dongas were “staff accommodation” and the business was “security”. .
Army truck camouflaged on property Tara residents said they had seen Jesse Wood enter town dressed in military or camouflage clothing
A supervisor (left, with a resident pit bull) on the property told DMA that the army dongas were used as housing for workers on the property, which even has its own roads (right) with signs reading “Pioneers” and ” Firsts’ roads on a surveillance camera post
The estate with the army dongas is just a 20 minute drive through the bush from the Wieambilla site (above) where the conniving prepper trio, Train cop killers planned and executed their deadly shootout.
The property has a sign reading ‘Elysium Security’, although a global company of the same name that offers cyber security, tactical and advanced threat research services said it did not know Jessee Wood and did not even operate in Australia.
A neighbor said that after the shooting, Wieambila residents were fearful and although there was no evidence that any firearms were on Mr Wood’s property, his apparent military appearance made people “scared”.
The New Zealand-born Mr. Wood bought the property last February for $150,000 and, according to his Facebook profile, is the CEO of Kiwi Guy Enterprises, Kiwi Guy Computers, Hydra Corp Industries and 420 Fanatics, which has the logo of a cannabis leaf and whose Brisbane store said it sold tobacco-related products.
The New Zealand and Australian flags fly from a pole above the donga huts.
Since he moved to Tara last year, he had been observed driving the huge truck covered in camouflage paint parked on his property into town, wearing camouflage or army green clothing.
On December 18, local community figure and horse rescuer David Maynard took pictures of the compound to show police during a memorial service for fallen officers McCrow and Arnott, five days after the shooting.
The 100-hectare property did not have a planning application for dongas or other structures, Western Downs Council said, which “is in discussions with the owner about its future use.”
Jessee Wood (above) said on his Facebook page, after the police raid sparked by the DMA photos, that “we don’t share the same ideals” as the Train trio killers.
Tara locals (pictured) have seen Wood drive into town in his unmarked truck which, in the aftermath of the Wieambilla tragedy, has scared some locals about what is happening in the Condamine bush.
Within 24 hours, police raided Mr Wood’s property and then posted on Facebook that he had been “interviewed by police and detectives for a few hours after people referred to us as like-minded people.” three shooters.”
He wrote: ‘We do not share the same ideals. We do not share the same opinions. We do not share the same way of life’, and it is not suggested otherwise.
‘These people were MURDERERS. We are not, nor could we ever be,” Wood wrote.
He has not responded to Mail inquiries about who or what his group represents.
Officer at the makeshift memorial of flowers placed outside the Tara police station in the days after the police double shooting in Wiemabilla, 30 km north of the city.
Police officers Rachel McCrow (left) and Matthew Arnold (right) were killed by Train’s trio of prepper conspirators, raising community fears about extremists.
On his Facebook page, Wood has posted an image of Alan Dare, the neighbor killed by the Trains when he went to investigate the scene, and the Queensland Police emblem with its motto ‘with honor we serve’.
In another post, from 2020, Mr. Wood has featured a hand-drawn Viking-style depiction. of a Norse ax felling Englishmen at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, when King Harald of Norway tried to seize the English throne.
Writing, ‘I’m getting tired’, Mr Wood’s post drew supportive comments encouraging him to keep fighting, including one that read ‘Keep fighting for your future dude. You got it.’
Another said, ‘No giving up, no giving up! Give it life, because we are ready! and a third, possibly posted by his mother saying: ‘You have this son. You don’t realize how strong you are.’
Queensland Police declined to answer questions about their raid on Mr Wood’s property, citing instead the possibility that the event was part of the coronary inquest into the murders of officers McCrow and Arnold.
A spokesman confirmed that police had received a complaint from Mr Maynard, who was “currently under investigation”, but would not say further.