A missing person’s report. “A hail of bullets”. Conspiracy-crazed shooters. And two young Queensland police officers “that didn’t stand a chance”.
These are the snippets of information we have so far about the Wieambilla shooting – an execution-style ambush that resulted in the deaths of six people, including constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow and neighbour Alan Dare.
But with more details come more questions. Here’s what we know so far and the questions that remain about the shooting and the actions of Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train before they were killed by police.
Was the shooting planned?
Police are investigating what, if anything, the Trains knew about police movements and had been planning before officers arrived at their doorstep.
It comes after police sources told Guardian Australia the shooters were wearing camouflage when they attacked police on Monday.
The family also had a sophisticated surveillance system including cameras hidden in trees, car-battery-powered infra-red motion sensors and “kill zones” set up at the property, according to the Australian.
The Queensland police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, told reporters the service was “definitely investigating every avenue, [including] whether it be premeditated”.
What role did conspiracy theories play?
Guardian Australia reported that Gareth Train had become deeply embedded in an online conspiracy community.
Gareth had posted regularly on a site about a mistrust of police and claimed the Port Arthur massacre was a false-flag operation.
“If you are a conservative, anti-vaxx, freedom lover, protester, common law, conspiracy talker, alternative news, independent critical thinker, truther, Christian, patriot etc etc expect a visit from these hammers,” he wrote in one post.
Both Nathaniel and Stacey were both opponents of Covid vaccines and had refused to get mandatory jabs while working at schools in New South Wales and Queensland, according to the ABC.
Carroll said police were looking into the trio’s online activity.
“Some of the stuff that’s online from these people, we will investigate what they have been doing not only in recent weeks but in recent years, who they’ve been interacting with,” she said.
Did they have gun licences?
Family members told Guardian Australia that Gareth was a “gun nut” and tried to force others to play with rifles as a late teenager. Ronald Train told A Current Affair this week that his son Gareth was always “obsessed” with guns.
Carroll said there had been “a lot of ammunition and weaponry” at the property. However, police have not confirmed whether either of the brothers legally possessed them.
The Australian has reported that Gareth did not have a gun licence, but that Nathaniel held a gun licence in NSW. The Courier Mail reported on Thursday that a .22 rifle, a .30-06 bolt-action rifle and a shotgun were used. Police have not publicly confirmed these details.
How close were the brothers and Stacey?
The relationships between the trio have received a lot of attention after it emerged that Stacey had left her first husband, Nathaniel, to pursue a relationship with his brother Gareth.
It’s believed the new relationship sparked division in the family, as the brothers’ father was a pastor at a conservative church.
But despite their father’s disapproval, Nathaniel had been living with Gareth and Stacey at their Wieambilla property at the time of the shooting.
Reports by Sydney Morning Herald also suggest Gareth had sent Nathaniel’s wife threatening messages after reporting her estranged partner missing, citing concerns for his welfare.
Were they on the police radar?
Police have been investigating whether the Trains were known to NSW and Queensland authorities.
When asked about whether the family had any blemishes on their criminal records, Carroll said she did not have “the full extent of that information yet”.
“There’s complexities here. The Trains have lived in other states as well, not just Queensland,” she said on Thursday. “Our investigations will go with NSW police, so there’s a lot of background work that needs to be done yet.”
Further questions emerged after residents of a far-western Queensland town recalled Gareth once dragging Stacey by the hair and other anecdotes of domestic abuse, according to the ABC.
Queensland police have not confirmed these reports.
“I don’t know any of that,” Carroll said. “And in fact, a lot of the information I can’t give you at this stage. It is sensitive, it is in the middle of investigations.”
How long will the police investigation take?
Carroll stressed the investigation would take time as police painstakingly piece together the how and why of the shooting.
“As we’re grieving, everyone wants many answers very, very quickly but we have to be extraordinarily thorough,” Carroll said this week.
“The investigation will take not days, weeks, it may even take months, to get to a point that we know what occurred and … why it occurred.
“There is a long way to go to get the exact answers we need.”
