Six people have died, including two police officers, at a remote Queensland property after an ambush described as a “ruthless” and “cold-blooded” killing.
The officers and a neighbour were gunned down on Monday night and their alleged killers – a former school principal, his brother and sister-in-law – were later shot dead in a firefight with heavily armed tactical police.
The Queensland police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, said the horrific incident was devastating for the victims’ families and the entire police force.
The reason behind the initial shooting is still unknown. Here is what we know so far about what happened:
4.30pm Monday
Police officers were sent to a regional property on Wain Road at Wieambilla, about 300km west of Brisbane, as part of a search for missing New South Wales man Nathaniel Train, 46, from Dubbo.
Train had been reported missing on 4 December.
Train, his brother Gareth Train and Gareth’s wife Stacey have been identified as the alleged killers by senior police sources. They allegedly staged the ambush, gunning down the police officers as they entered the property.
Police constables Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, jumped a fence and were shot at as they walked up the driveway towards the house on the property.
The president of the Queensland police union, Ian Leavers, said the officers were met with “a hail of bullets” after they got over the fence.
“They did not know what was coming,” he told ABC radio. As a result of being shot they fell to the ground.
“These ruthless murderous people then went and executed the two police who were on the ground. They were executed in cold blood.”
Their two colleagues, constables Keeley Brough and Randall Kirk, both 28, took cover behind them. Kirk suffered a bullet graze while Brough managed to escape by hiding in the grass.
Brough and Kirk were later taken to hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
During the ambush, the assailants lit a grass fire to try to flush the female officer out of hiding.
“They lit grass on fire to try and coax her out… which just shows the lack of compassion and the type of people they actually are,” Leavers said.
“She actually believed that she was either going to be shot or she was going to be burnt alive. She had come to terms with that was the end of her life.”
Neighbour Alan Dare, having either seen smoke or heard gunshots, came to check on what was happening and was shot. He died at the scene.
6pm
Police issued an emergency declaration under the Public Safety Preservation Act, which closed off the nearby area and warned residents to stay inside.
Sixteen specialist police officers and PolAir, led by a local sergeant, arrived at the property and a siege commenced.
10.30pm
The two men and a woman were shot dead in a firefight with police, the force said.
“Two males and a female were fatally shot during a confrontation with police shortly after 10.30pm,” police said in a statement early Tuesday morning.
Tuesday morning
Commissioner Carroll said she had visited the scene and that the officers “didn’t stand a chance”.
They were all shot at in an area that had little to no cover, she said.
“The fact that two got out alive is a miracle,” she said. “To think [two] survived the scene, let alone … called for assistance, is just extraordinary.”
Guardian Australia later revealed the property’s owner Gareth Train regularly posted on an online conspiracy website.
– with AAP
