The harrowing final act of heroic police officer Rachel McCrow as she lay dying on the floor of a family of killers’ apocalyptic cult has been revealed.
Constable McCrow was shot dead along with Constable Matt Arnold after entering the remote property of the religious extremist Train family at Wieambilla, 300km west of Brisbane.
An investigation has revealed how Ms McCrow recorded a final “loving message to her family” before she died.
Body camera video revealed how Officer McCrow was shot and killed at 4:37 p.m. on December 12, 2022, moments after Officer Arnold was shot and killed by one of the Train brothers.
Officer McCrow immediately got on her knees and walked away from the driveway to call for urgent help on her police radio, the investigation heard.
But two camouflaged figures, believed to be Nathaniel and Gareth Train, armed with rifles, approached and shot McCrow in the back.
At 4.38pm he was shot again, “in the lower left and upper right leg”, said solicitor assisting the inquest, Ruth O’Gorman KC.
‘At 16:40 she registered that she had been shot three times. At 16:45 she registered that the shooter was moving towards her and fired his Glock.
Members of the Train family – brothers Nathaniel and Gareth Train and their wife Stacey – murdered officers Rachel McCrow, 29 (pictured), and Matthew Arnold, 26, when they attended the Wains Rd property on December 12 last year.
Later that night, heavily armed police shot dead all members of the Train family during a lengthy siege.
‘McCrow shot the shooter 15 times and ‘pleaded with the man who approached her’ but ‘after a brief verbal exchange she was killed at point-blank range.’
In the space of seven minutes, the inquest heard from officers who, “ambushed, in pain and no doubt terrified, showed great courage under fire… and recorded important details… and had the kindness to record a message for his family.”
The terrifying details of what happened next included footage of a third officer being chased by two of the trains.
The testimony was heard at the Brisbane inquest into the deaths of Constables Arnold and McCrow, neighbour Alan Dare and the Trains at the complex north of Tara.
Brothers Nathaniel and Gareth Train and their wife Stacey murdered Officers McCrow, 29, and Arnold, 26, and then Mr Dare before they were shot dead by police.
The month-long investigation began with details of what began as a routine missing persons investigation that turned deadly after four police officers jumped the Trains fence at 251 Wains Road, Wieambilla at around 4.30pm.
The four officers, including Constable Keely Brough, could be heard chatting on the dirt road as they approached the Trains’ home.
Matthew Arnold, 26 (pictured), also died during the shooting in Wieambilla in December.
Just 120 yards from the house, Officer Arnold was shot and killed, followed by McCrow.
The gunmen then chased Officer Randall Kirk, and his body camera revealed him hiding in the grass as two camouflaged individuals chased him.
Speaking quietly to police headquarters while under fire, Kirk told them that after shooting Arnold and McCrow, a shooter “is still trying to walk around me.”
“They have huge guns. Matt’s not moving. Rachel’s not moving now. There are two of them,” Kirk said.
The radio operator replied, “You’ve got to take care of yourself, buddy.”
Kirk replied, “He’s coming this way. Should I run?”
The radio operator asked, ‘Do they know where you are?’
Nathaniel and Stacey Train (pictured at their wedding) along with their brother Gareth were shot in the head by police seven minutes apart.
Later that night, heavily armed police shot dead all members of the Train family during a lengthy siege (pictured: Gareth Train).
“Yes, they do,” Kirk said. (Gunfire is exchanged.) “They’re coming, they’re shooting.”
Kirk ran and jumped over the fence towards the police car, screaming “fuck” as he moaned after he too was shot.
As he walked away, panting, and the trains continued to shoot at him, he said again: “Oh, fuck… there are two of them, I think I’ve been shot, there’s blood on my face.”
Ms O’Gorman told the hearing that “in the absence of cover and with the shooters getting closer”, the body camera recorded the shooters saying: “There it is, let’s go”.
“As he ran for his life, he was shot nine times… and with a gunshot wound to the hip and shots to the front windscreen and passenger side panel, Kirk escaped,” Ms O’Gorman said.
He was later taken to hospital and had shrapnel removed from his left hip.
Meanwhile, the situation was still active for Constable Brough, who was lying on the lawn of the property, with her police radio not working and using her mobile phone to call for help.
At 4:49 p.m., a male voice recorded on Officer Arnold’s body camera said, “There’s one more somewhere.”
Brough told a radio operator: “I think they know I’m here. I’m scared.”
He said there were two people in camouflage with rifles before he realized they had set fire to the grass at the compound.
The wind fanned the fire as it came ever closer until it was just 1m away from her, and she “couldn’t move because they were watching her”.
Officer Brough remained on the lawn for two hours until a special police team arrived to rescue her and deal with the shooters.
At around 5.30pm, Alan Dare (pictured) and another man went to the property to investigate the fires that had started.
The cold-blooded killings of two police officers and an innocent neighbour in what has been called a religiously motivated terror attack were captured on camera, showing the three had no interactions with their killers before being gunned down, a court has been told.
Meanwhile, neighbour Alan Dare, 58, who had gone to investigate the commotion, was also shot dead by the trains.
All of the deaths were recorded on video: the officers on their fellow officers’ body cameras, while Dare filmed his own death as he attempted to film the fire.
The specialist police team shot all three Trains in the head, Gareth at 10.32pm, Stacey at 10.36pm and Nathanial at 10.39pm, the inquest heard.
The train deaths were recorded by Polair and drone footage.
Ms O’Gorman said none of the footage of the deaths would be played during the inquest, but warned that close-up footage of the deaths could be disturbing to some.
The investigation continues.
