A barricade and sniper positions had been set up at a remote Queensland property months before two police officers were shot dead in an ambush, a coroner has heard.
Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow were killed after arriving with two other officers at the Wieambilla property west of Brisbane in December 2022, attempting to serve an arrest warrant on Nathaniel Train.
Six hours later, Gareth Train, his wife Stacey and his brother Nathaniel were shot dead by members of the police Special Emergency Response Team (SERT).
Detective Senior Sergeant Nathan McCormack described the trains’ measures to repel police.
SERT officers arrived after the deaths of the two officers and neighbour Alan Dare, and discovered the house had been barricaded by the trains.
Detective Senior Sergeant Nathan McCormack told Brisbane Coroner’s Court on Tuesday that three shooting positions had been established on the property, which consisted of 100 acres of bushland.
Mirrors were placed along the driveway and SERT members complained that reflections hindered their vision as they drove to the house at night, Detective Sergeant McCormack said.
About 100 metres from the house, a barricade of logs and metal had been placed in the driveway, stopping the heavily armed police BearCat vehicle which was then attacked.
Constable Rachel McCrow, 29 (pictured), was killed during the shootings in Wieambilla, west of Brisbane, in December 2022.
Officer Matthew Arnold, 26 (pictured), was killed after arriving with two other officers at Wieambilla’s property in December 2022, attempting to serve an arrest warrant for Nathaniel Train.
Detective Sergeant McCormack, the lead investigator into Trains’ deaths, said satellite images of Wieambilla’s property showed the barricade and shooting locations were already in place in October 2022, two months before the incident.
Gareth and Stacey Train had bought the property in 2015, the inquest heard.
Detective Sergeant McCormack said during the five-week investigation into the shootings that the Trains had taken other measures to provide a tactical advantage during the police raid.
Horseshoe-shaped bonfires had been lit around the house and cars were also strategically parked.
Nathaniel Train was at one point barricaded at the side of the house behind an L-shaped barricade consisting of two hardwood logs “extremely bullet-resistant”, the coroner heard.
Satellite images showed Wieambilla’s property had barricades in place weeks before the incident.
The property’s remote location also created obstacles.
A barricade of logs and metal had been placed in the driveway about 100 metres from the house, stopping the heavily armed police BearCat vehicle which was then attacked.
Problems with the mobile network in the Wieambilla area meant that police helicopters (SERT’s “eyes in the sky”) were unable to transmit images of the shooters.
Instead, screenshots from the television monitors were sent via the police computer system to SERT members on the ground to help locate the trains.
Detective Sergeant McCormack said negotiators had attempted to communicate with the trains via their mobile phones the previous night and had attempted to communicate via the BearCat’s loudspeaker.
“The only communication was through a YouTube video: ‘Don’t be afraid,'” he told the inquest.
“I never observed any action by Gareth, Stacey or Nathaniel in a tone of surrender or any attempt to communicate with SERT officers.”
Gareth and Stacey Train recorded the YouTube video near the house on the night of the incident, calling police “devils and demons”.
All three trains were subsequently shot down by police within minutes of each other.
