The FBI has arrested a man in the US state of Arizona in connection with last year’s religiously motivated terrorist attack on a remote Queensland property in Wieambilla.
Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train killed two police officers and a neighbour in the attack, before being shot dead by police.
Nearly a year after the shootings, Queensland police confirmed on Wednesday that the FBI arrested a 58-year-old US national near Heber-Overgaard, Arizona on 1 December.
The man, who Guardian Australia has confirmed is named Donald Day, was in online contact with Gareth and Stacey Train in the lead-up to the shootings.
Although both said they had never met in person, Gareth Train and “Don” repeatedly refer to one another as “brothers” in online posts. Videos and posts made by the men betray similar preoccupations: an apparent hatred of police, fundamentalist Christian ideology, and a loose connection to beliefs linked to the so-called sovereign citizen conspiracy movement.
In the Train couple’s final video, filmed not long before they were killed by police, Stacey Train told “Don” they will “be home soon” and that they love him.
The Queensland police assistant commissioner Cheryl Scanlon told media on Wednesday that Gareth Train began following the arrested man on YouTube in around May 2020.
The pair began commenting directly on each other’s videos in May 2021, she said, and police had evidence to show the Trains subsequently accessed an older YouTube account, created by the same man in 2014, and viewed that content between May 2021 and December 2022.
“We know that the offenders executed a religiously motivated terrorist attack in Queensland. They were motivated by Christian extremist ideology and subscribe to the Christian fundamentalist belief system known as premillennialism,” Scanlon said.
“The motivation of the United States national is still under investigation by the FBI.”
Two indictments were issued by a grand jury in Tucson, Arizona for interstate threats. One of those related to comments posted online in December 2022 allegedly inciting violence in connection with the incident at Wieambilla. Police did not confirm what the second was in regards to.
The man has been charged under US law and there is currently no application in place to extradite him to Australia.
A search warrant has been executed on a remote property, 30km north of Heber-Overgaard, in northern Arizona.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation representative Nitiana Mann said the FBI and QPS have worked “jointly and endlessly to bring this man to justice”.
“He will face the crimes … he’s alleged to have perpetrated.”
In a video posted less than a week before the attack, “Don” – as he was referred to in exchanges with the Trains – laid out a conspiracy-laden narrative borrowing from the far-right “great reset” theory, which predicts a coming end-days scenario with “enforced” vaccinations, and bans on Christianity, “freedom” and “private property”.
Immediately after the shooting, “Don” posted his own video.
“The devils came for them to kill them, and they had to kill the devils themselves and are now on the run,” he said.
In a statement, police said investigators from its ethical standards and security and counter-terrorism command had travelled to the US as part of the investigation.
“The state coroner and families of constables Matthew Arnold, Rachel McCrow, and neighbour Alan Dare along with other officers involved, have been briefed on the progress of this investigation,” police said.
