Wieambilla shootout: Nathaniel Train breached Covid-19 border rules a year before deadly shooting

A school principal turned bad cop killer broke Covid-19 restrictions to illegally cross the border in a 4WD packed with loaded guns and military knives a year before the deadly shooting, a farmer has revealed.

He recalled how in December 2021, Nathaniel Train, then 45, slipped into Queensland from New South Wales by breaking through the border gate of a flooded bridge and was seen dumping weapons, ammunition, hunting equipment and paperwork into a stream.

A year later, Train, along with his brother Gareth and sister-in-law Stacey, shot dead police officers Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, along with a neighbor of the Good Samaritan, at their remote Wieambilla property last Monday. The trio were also killed six hours later in a shootout with tactical officers.

The shocking revelation has raised questions about how much Queensland police knew about the Train trio before sending four young officers in their 20s to the remote property to investigate after other family members reported Nathaniel missing earlier in December.

A farmer told the abc A year ago, he watched a camouflage-clad Nathaniel Train ram his black Toyota LandCruiser through the flooded border gate at the Boongangar Bridge in the Goondiwindi region.

Nathaniel used an angle grinder to unlock the padlock on the border gate and made it across the border before his vehicle was stranded in floodwaters.

According to the farmer, Nathaniel threw items from his car into the floodwaters before locals came to his rescue and helped pull out his waterlogged 4×4.

At the time, Queensland had just reopened its border with NSW for the first time in months, but only to vaccinated visitors.

The [Train] He said he was ‘anti-vaccination’ and had lost his job because he didn’t get vaccinated and couldn’t see his family in Queensland,’ the farmer told the publication.

‘He jumped out of the car and began to get rid of all the things in the car and throw them in the stream. I thought, ‘that looks sketchy.’

The farmer recalled how Train asked for a ride and returned to his car to retrieve weapons, a bow and arrow and military-style ‘Rambo’ knives.

Borrowed a local phone and was heard speaking in a code before being driven further up the road and picked up by someone waiting on the other side.

The farmer later returned to the creek where he found three loaded short-range firearms, ammunition, hunting gear and camouflage along with documents relating to Train’s previous work as a school principal in Walgett, in northwestern New Wales. South.

He contacted the police who went out to recover the discarded belongings, but they told him there was nothing the officers could do because the 4×4 had not been stolen.

That was the last time he heard from the police until they returned to his property last week after the deadly shooting in Wieambilla.

‘They were looking to see if there was any paperwork left. But we threw it all away,” the farmer recalled.

Goondiwindi Mayor Lawrence Springborg said his council was aware of the incident at the time and would have reported the rape to police, along with CCTV from the bridge.

‘We had vehicles ramming them [the gates] and people passing people through the doors… we wouldn’t have known the names but we gave the information to the police,’ he told ABC.

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said earlier in the week that she did not have “full information” about whether the trains were known to police and the weapons in their possession.

Queensland Police were unable to comment as a major Ethics Standards Command investigation into the incident is ongoing.

“This is a complex and thorough coronal investigation overseen by the Crime and Corruption Commission and will be reported to the state coroner,” a spokesman said.

“Family Liaison Officers have been appointed and are working closely with the families involved in this tragedy.”

NSW Police referred all inquiries about the incident to Queensland Police.

Train’s estranged wife, who remains in NSW, is understood to want her 4WD back. The vehicle remains on the Wieambilla property.

Nathaniel Train, his brother Gareth and sister-in-law Stacey opened fire on the four officers sent to search the Wieambilla property last Monday.

Officers Arnold and Ms. McCrow were fatally shot at close range before the gunmen stole their weapons.

Commissioner Carroll told reporters that “those officers didn’t stand a chance.”

The two slain officers will receive full police honors at a funeral in Brisbane on Wednesday.

His colleague, Officer Randall Kirk, 28, was shot in the leg but managed to escape to his police car.

He underwent surgery and two days later he was discharged.

Another officer, Keeley Brough, also 28, was forced to run and hide in the surrounding bush, which the gunmen then set on fire in an attempt to smoke her out.

She was later rescued by a specialized team of 16 officers.

The Good Samaritan’s neighbor, Alan Dare, 58, was also shot dead before the Trains were killed by tactical police in a nighttime shootout hours later.