Large bushland blocks similar to those where six people were murdered in Queensland were known to have “booby traps” and signs threatening to shoot on entry, a coroner has heard.
Two police officers were killed at a remote property in Wieambilla, west of Brisbane, on the evening of 12 December 2022 when an arrest warrant turned into an ambush by shooters with high-powered rifles.
Constable Craig Loveland testified at the inquest at Brisbane Coroner’s Court on Thursday.
He told state coroner Terry Ryan he was at Tara police station, about 30 kilometres south of Wieambilla, when he received the call to assist with a “shots fired” incident.
Officer Loveland said the incident occurred in an area known as “the blocks” and that more experienced officers had advised him not to go into that area alone.
“I was told to call a second officer for certain areas and certain addresses… there were signs that said ‘do not enter or you will be shot,'” he said.
Officer Loveland said he had seen the signs himself and had likely entered properties with them on them.
‘At some addresses there were mantraps, spike pits and other things around the block on certain properties… to hurt people when they came in,’ he said.
Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train had set traps to ambush the police in their compound.
Two police officers were killed at a remote property in Wieambilla, west of Brisbane, when an arrest warrant turned into an ambush on 12 December 2022.
Officer Craig Loveland testified that the incident occurred in an area known as “the blocks” and that more experienced officers had advised him not to go into that area alone.
Constable Christopher Sharman, who arrived from Dalby, about an hour away, testified that he was unable to obtain a police radio signal when he arrived.
“We had no radio communication… the QLITE (police tablet computer) stopped working. Our map wasn’t working very well,” he said.
Mr Ryan heard that officers who responded to assist were not allowed to approach the scene of the shooting because they were armed with Glock pistols with an accuracy range of 15 metres.
The suspects were armed with high-powered rifles and had shot at officers from a long distance and from covert positions.
Officer Loveland said one of the few officers trained to use the rifles kept in police stations was Officer Matthew Arnold, who was killed during the initial shootout.
Mr Ryan posted several videos ahead of Thursday’s inquest hearing.
They were captured mostly after dark that day by infrared cameras on two police helicopters as they hovered over a house surrounded by brush about three hours after two officers were killed.
Gareth Train and his wife Stacey, and Nathaniel Train, set a perimeter of small fires around the property before police arrived, then Gareth shot a helicopter and filmed a YouTube video.
The footage shows a police vehicle on fire and a perimeter of small fires set by Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train around their property.
Gareth Train is seen firing a rifle at one of the helicopters before sitting at an outdoor table with his wife Stacey and recording a YouTube video with her.
“They came to kill us and we killed them… If you don’t fight back against these devils and demons, you’re a coward,” Gareth Train said in the video.
Nathaniel Train can later be seen lying face down behind a log and shooting at a BearCat armored police vehicle using a scoped rifle.
Shortly after the video ended, all three trains were shot dead by police within minutes of each other.
Officers Arnold and Rachel McCrow were shot and killed at 4:37 p.m. as they walked with two other officers down a driveway leading to the property in an attempt to locate Nathaniel Train.
Officers Arnold and McCrow were shot and killed at 4:37 p.m. while attempting to locate Nathaniel Train.
Mr Ryan previously heard that then-Inspector Wayne Rasmussen was assigned the role of forward commander at 4.47pm after reports that two officers had been shot.
Mr Rasmussen was due to give evidence at the five-week inquest on Thursday.
Mr. Rasmussen approved a rescue mission for Officer Keely Brough as she was in danger of being shot or burned to death by a fire ignited by the trains trying to get her out.
During Mr Rasmussen’s tenure, Wieambilla resident Alan Dare was shot dead by trains after he went to investigate the fire.
Mr Rasmussen handed over command of the scene to the Police Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) at 21.05 hours.
By 10:41 p.m., all three trains had been shot dead by SERT officers after they refused to negotiate and fired at police.