A heavily armoured police BearCat vehicle was twice forced to retreat from gunfire during the siege at Wieambilla, as it encountered a series of military-style obstacles and defences set up by the radicalised killers.
A coronial inquest on Tuesday was told how tactical police from the Queensland Special Emergency Response Team (Sert) surrounded the remote property at 251 Wains Road on 12 December 2022 and eventually killed Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train.
In the process they encountered heavy gunfire from the three shooters, who had earlier ambushed, shot and killed police constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, and civilian neighbour Alan Dare.
Det Sen Sgt Nathan McCormack, the lead investigator from police ethical standards, told the inquest that police encountered a “tactically sound” series of defences that protected the Trains after they retreated to a house on the remote property.
McCormack said scrub on the property was set alight in a horseshoe shape around the house, which provided a “tactical advantage” for the shooters, as it directed any approach from tactical police along the property’s driveway, which opened into a clearing.
“The smoke itself provided a visual deterrent, [it] hampered the operatives moving forward,” McCormack said. “The heat of the fires were glowing.”
As tactical police approached the house in the BearCat armoured vehicle just after 9pm, they encountered a barricade blocking the driveway around a “blind corner”. This had the effect of stalling the vehicle as it came into view of the house.
Aerial footage from a police helicopter shows that as the BearCat stalled, Stacey Train moved inside the house. Nathaniel Train moved to at an L-shaped “shooting position”, protected by two heavy hardwood logs, which repelled police bullets.
Gareth Train then walked over to a vehicle and directed a bright hunting light at the Bearcat, which was hit with gunfire from a high-powered rifle.
“The shooter had some capability with that rifle,” McCormack said.
“You can observe Gareth continually firing as the Bearcat … retreated along the driveway”.
Three mirrors had been placed around the house, which meant lights from the BearCat “reflected heavily back into its vision”.
After the BearCat’s first retreat, Gareth Train was observed being “active and walking around”.
“It appeared to me that he was never expecting return fire at that time,” McCormack said.
“He had a rifle in his hands and he was scanning towards his back side.”
About 10pm, a Sert operative shot at Gareth and missed, McCormack told the court. The bullet hit a nearby water tank. Afterwards Gareth moved behind a tree and lay on his stomach.
The BearCat attempted a second approach about 10.05pm but was forced to retreat back into the tree line again. The shooters continued to fire into the scrub and a minute later the BearCat reported that it was “taking rounds”.
At 10.29pm the BearCat made a final approach to the house, over the barricade. Within 12 minutes, Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train were each shot and killed.
Gareth was shot through the top of the head at 10.32pm.
At 10.36pm Stacey re-emerged from the house and fired a weapon in the direction of the BearCat. She was shot through the head.
Nathaniel was shot in the torso and the face about 10.39pm. In the minutes prior, his rifle appeared to jam and he grabbed the Glock pistol, taken from constable Matthew Arnold, to continue firing.
Timeline
Wieambilla shootings
Show
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.
Gareth is informed by email about the missing person’s report and responds with a message including anti-police comments.
Job assigned to Chinchilla police, who seek assistance from Tara police. Four police travel to the property.
4.35pm
Constables Matthew Arnold, Rachel McCrow, Randall Kirk and Keely Brough arrive at 251 Wains Road, Wieambilla.
4.37pm
Nathaniel Train shoots Const Arnold dead from a prepared ambush position, known as a “hide”.
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.
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.
5.30pm
Police issue public service preservation act warning for the Wieambilla area, banning civilian movement.
6.37pm
Const Brough rescued by uniformed police extraction team. They also remove bodies of McCrow and Arnold, but not Dare.
7.40pm
Police special emergency response team arrive and take over the police inner cordon.
10.39pm
Last of the Trains, Nathaniel, is killed by operators from the police special emergency response team. Massacre ends.
McCormack said Sert teams had secured the house by 10.41pm.
Killers laid defences months in advance
McCormack told the hearing about the layout of the Trains’ property and how its defences had been in place for at least two months prior to the ambush and siege.
He said that the day after the shootings, police investigators discovered well-worn foot tracks leading through the bush to a “firing position”, covered by a shade cloth, near the front of the driveway.
Satellite images from October 2022 showed the shade cloth structure in place and the walking tracks clearly visible from the house.
Those tracks were “suggestive of [the track] having been walked many times”, McCormack agreed when questioned by counsel assisting, Ruth O’Gorman.
The driveway barricade and other structures, which appeared to be constructed as shooting positions, were also visible in the October satellite images.
The inquest continues.