Reason cops were at bush property revealed: Officers were investigating the bizarre year-long disappearance of school principal, 46, when they were fatally ambushed at brother’s property
- Four Queensland Police officers were called to a home in Wieambilla on Monday
- They’d been asked by NSW Police to help solve disappearance of Nathaniel Train
- Two young constables were shot dead, while three suspects were also killed
- A neighbour who ran over to investigate the gunfire was also fatally shot
Four Queensland Police officers were called to a property in Wieambilla, three hours west of Brisbane to solve the disappearance of Nathaniel Train (pictured)
The two young police officers who were shot dead in a violent ambush at a property in remote Queensland went to the home in a bid to solve the year-long disappearance of a missing school principal.
Four Queensland Police officers had gone to the property at Wieambilla, three hours west of Brisbane, at about 4.30pm on Monday.
They had been asked by their NSW counterparts to help find missing man Nathaniel Train, 46, who was last seen in Dubbo, in NSW’s central west, a year ago.
Mr Train, a former principal of Yorkeys Knob State School in Queensland’s far north, had kept in contact with family until October 9 – despite not being seen in the past year.
Mr Train’s brother Gareth is understood to have lived at the address in Wieambilla.
Faces of the dead: Matthew Arnold, 29, was killed upon arriving at the property, as was Rachel McCrow, 26
When the four Queensland Police officers arrived, two young constables, Matthew Arnold, 29, and Rachel McCrow, 26, were killed in a hail of bullets. A neighbour who ran over to investigate was also fatally shot.
The two men and women at the property – described by Police Union president Ian Leaver as a ‘murderous trio’ in camouflage – were shot dead by Special Operations police about 11.30pm local time.
It’s understood both Nathaniel and Gareth Train were the two men shot, while a neighbour, Alan Dare, was also killed.
A relative of Nathaniel reportedly had a strong dislike for police.
The woman killed is yet to be identified.
A third officer was shot in the leg during the firefight but managed to escape while a fourth female cop fled into surrounding bushland.
She was later rescued by a specialist police tactical team of 16 officers which had scrambled to the scene.
The town of Wieambilla, just south of Chinchilla in Queensland, has a population of about 100
The officers had just entered this property at Wieambilla, three hours’ west of Brisbane, when they were gunned down in a hail of bullets
The armed trio reportedly walked up and shot the two young officers again as they lay injured on the ground. The gunmen took the slain officers’ Glock pistols from their bodies.
They then lit a fire in a bid to smoke out the remaining female officer – who had been a police officer for just eight weeks – as she hid in the bushes, texting family members in the belief she was going to die, and urgently calling for help.
More to follow
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