On Monday, two police officers and a member of the public were killed in the rural Queensland town of Wieambilla.
The three suspected offenders were later killed during a confrontation with police.
The Queensland Police Chief says the officers “did not stand a chance”, and the Queensland Police Union says it was a “targeted execution” of the officers.
Here’s what we know so far.
The victims
Four police officers, all under the age of 30, visited a property in Wieambilla in search of a missing person.
Two of the officers, Constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, were shot dead, as was 58-year-old neighbour Alan Dare. The other two officers, Constables Randall Kirk and Keely Brough, escaped, although Kirk was shot in the leg.
The suspects
The three suspected offenders were shot dead in a subsequent confrontation with police on the same night.
They were brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train and Gareth’s wife Stacey. Nathaniel Train – the missing person the police were trying to find – was previously a school principal in NSW. The shooting took place at a property owned by the married couple.
The motive
Queensland Police Chief Katarina Carroll says police will “get to the bottom” of what happened in subsequent investigations but described the killings as “callous” and said it was “obvious” from the crime scene that the officers “did not stand a chance”.
In a statement to members, the Queensland Police Union of Employees said it was a “ruthless, calculated and targeted execution”.
Online presence
Several media outlets have reported that an account with the name Gareth Train commented regularly on extremist sites.
Many of Train’s comments have been deleted, but an article posted in November 2021 on an Australian conspiracy website is still up. In it, Train claims the Port Arthur gun massacre in 1996 was faked by the Government to restrict gun rights. He also claimed that Australia, including law enforcement, is controlled by “secret societies”.
Commissioner Carroll has confirmed police investigations will consider the “online presence” of the suspects.
