Tributes are flowing for two police officers slain in an extraordinary ambush in rural Queensland which left six people dead. “All Australians are shocked and saddened by this tragic loss of life,” the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said. The Queensland police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, says it may take “weeks to unravel” precisely what happened, but here’s what we know so far:
Four police officers were sent yesterday to a property in Wieambilla – about four hours west of Brisbane. Carroll says the officers were ambushed when they arrived, with constables Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, killed in the gunfire.
Neighbour Alan Dare, 58, described by a local as “lovely”, was also killed when he went to investigate the shooting.
The officers were searching for a missing New South Wales man – 46-year-old Nathaniel Train, a former principal at a primary school in Walgett, NSW. NSW education confirmed Train died in the shooting.
Gareth Train, Nathaniel Train’s brother and the owner of the property, had posted regularly in an online conspiracy community before the shooting, including expressing a mistrust of police. In one post, he wrote: “If you are a conservative, anti-vaxx [sic], freedom lover, protester, common law, conspiracy talker, alternative news, independent critical thinker, truther, Christian, patriot etc etc expect a visit from these hammers.”
Gareth, Nathaniel and a woman yet to be identified were killed in an operation involving 16 tactical police about six hours after the shooting began.
