A coroner has heard how a barricade and sniper positions were set up at a remote Queensland property months before two police officers were shot dead in an ambush.
Officers Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow were killed when they arrived with two other officers at the Wieambilla estate, west of Brisbane, in December 2022 to execute an arrest warrant for Nathaniel Train.
Six hours later, Gareth Train, his wife Stacey and his brother Nathaniel were fatally shot by members of the police Special Emergency Response Team (SERT).
Chief Inspector Nathan McCormack described the measures the trains took to ward off the police.
SERT officers arrived after the deaths of the two officers and neighbor Alan Dare to find that the trains had barricaded the house.
Detective Chief Inspector Nathan McCormack told the Brisbane District Court on Tuesday that three shooting positions had been set up on the 100-hectare bushland site.
Mirrors had been placed along the driveway and SERT members complained that the reflections obstructed their view as they drove home at night, said Inspector Sen Sgt McCormack.
A barricade of logs and metal had been set up in the driveway about 100 yards from the house, forcing the heavily armed BearCat police vehicle to a halt, where gunfire was fired.
Officer Rachel McCrow, 29 (pictured) was killed during the shooting in Wieambilla, west of Brisbane in December 2022
Officer Matthew Arnold, 26, (pictured) was killed after arriving at the Wieambilla property with two other officers in December 2022 while attempting to execute an arrest warrant for Nathaniel Train
Detective Sgt McCormack, the lead investigator into the Trains’ deaths, said satellite images of the Wieambilla site showed the barricade and shooting locations were in place as early as October 2022, two months before the incident.
The investigation revealed that Gareth and Stacey Train had purchased the property in 2015.
Detective Sgt McCormack told the five-week investigation into the shooting that the Trains had taken other measures to gain a tactical advantage during the police operation.
Horseshoe-shaped fires were lit around the house and cars were strategically parked.
Nathaniel Train was at one point hiding next to the house, behind an L-shaped barricade made of two hardwood “extremely bulletproof” logs, the coroner heard.
Satellite images showed that barricades had been set up on Wieambilla’s property weeks before the incident.
The property’s remote location also presented an obstacle.
A barricade of logs and metal was placed in the driveway, about 100 yards from the house, causing the heavily armed BearCat police vehicle to come to a stop, which then came under fire
Mobile network problems in the Wieambilla area prevented police helicopters, SERT’s ‘eyes in the sky’, from streaming images of the gunmen.
Instead, screenshots of TV screens were sent through the police computer system to SERT members on the ground to help locate the trains.
According to Inspector McCormack, the negotiators had attempted to contact the trains using their cell phones the night before they tried to communicate over the BearCat’s loudspeaker.
“The only communication was the YouTube video ‘don’t be afraid,’” he told the investigation.
“I never saw Gareth, Stacey or Nathaniel surrender or attempt to communicate with any SERT agents.”
Gareth and Stacey Train recorded the YouTube video near the house on the night of the incident, in which they called the police “devils and demons”.
All three trains were shot dead by police within minutes of each other.