Brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train and Gareth’s wife, Stacey Train, were killed by police reinforcements with armored vehicles, ending a six-hour siege on Dec. 12, 2022, in the sparsely populated Wieambilla region west of the Queensland state capital, Brisbane.
State Coroner Terry Ryan on Thursday ended his 17-day inquiry into the cause of the violence that claimed six lives.
He will release the findings of his investigation and make recommendations aimed at preventing a repeat of the tragedy at a later date.
The court has heard that the Trains followed the Christian fundamentalist belief system known as pre-millennialism that focused on an apocalypse before Jesus Christ's return to Earth.
“Their religious extremism was a key driver for their actions and the Trains were likely suffering from a shared delusional disorder which pre-existed those religious convictions,” O’Gorman said.
Their shared delusion involved a belief that they were being persecuted by authorities, particularly police, she said.
“The Trains likely developed their religious extremist views and beliefs in a way to make sense of, and even seek hope in, a world in which they truly and wrongly believed they were being persecuted and it is unlikely that their religious extremism would have developed without the underlying shared delusional disorder,” O'Gorman said.
“It is unlikely that the events of Dec. 12, 2022, would have occurred in the absence of their shared delusional disorder,” she added.
Forensic psychiatrist Andrew Aboud earlier told the inquest that had the Trains survived the siege, they might have been found mentally unfit to stand trial on any criminal charge.
Four police officers had gone to the Trains’ house to arrest Nathaniel Train on a warrant relating to firearm offenses.
The brothers opened fire with bolt-action rifles from hidden sniper positions on their wooded property.
Police officer Matthew Arnold was killed by a single shot to the chest from Nathaniel Train’s rifle.
Officer Rachel McCrow was later shot three times before Gareth Train fired the fatal shot to her head at close range. Both brothers could have fired the first three shots, Gormon said.
Officer Randal Kirk was wounded as he fled and the fourth officer, Keely Brough, hid in woods on the property until reinforcements arrived.
Neighbor Alan Dare was fatally shot through the chest by one of the brothers as Dare came to investigate the sounds of gunfire and the smell of smoke from a burning police car.
Stacey Train, who had been married to Nathaniel and had two children with him before marrying the older brother, did not start firing until the police armored vehicles arrived.
Families of the victims provided heartbreaking statements to the coroner on Thursday which said the tragedy should have been avoided for a range of reasons.
McCrow’s family said she had repeatedly told them in her body camera and audio recorder “I love you” in the eight minutes she survived after she was first wounded.
The family said authorities did not tell them of her last words until three months after her death.
“Rachel, we want you to know we love you so much too,” their statement said. She would have turned 31 on Friday.
Arnold was one of triplets. He died at age 26.
“The triplets’ birthday, or any family event will never be the same again,” his family said.
The junior police officers on a routine job were unaware they were being watched by two heavily-armed brothers who believed authority figures to be demons.
Mr Ryan heard evidence of the many years and multiple unfortunate decisions, large and small, that led to a tragedy described by deputy police commissioner Cheryl Scanlon as "rare and devastating".
Constables Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, were shot dead at Wieambilla, west of Brisbane, as they walked up a driveway as part of a missing persons investigation.
NSW Police officers had asked their Queensland counterparts to attend the 40-acre bushland block in an effort to find Nathaniel Train.
Train had been a successful primary school principal in regional NSW before a heart attack threw the highly athletic and hardworking 46-year-old into a downward spiral.
He had been camping in remote Queensland for nearly 12 months while in sporadic phone contact.
Mr Ryan heard Nathaniel Train returned to his previous unconventional circumstances of living in isolation with his ex-wife Stacey Train, 45, who was now married to his 47-year-old brother Gareth Train.
Counsel assisting Ruth O'Gorman told Mr Ryan he should find the Trains suffered from a "shared psychotic disorder" with Gareth Train as the primary sufferer.
"The Trains were motivated by religious conviction that the end times were imminent … their religious extremism was a key driver for their actions," she said.
Ms O'Gorman said the Train's Christian premillennialist belief in an impending apocalypse and final battle with Satan was predated by their shared delusion they were being persecuted by a range of authorities, and particularly by police.
As the four officers at 4:37pm walked towards the house at the centre of the block, Nathaniel Train was less than 200 metres away in an improvised bunker.
Older colleagues referred to Wieambilla as 'The Blocks' and warned some residents had signs with threats to kill intruders and a perimeter of dangerous booby traps.
Nathaniel Train sat behind bullet-resistant hardwood logs that were camouflaged to look like the scrub that surrounded Gareth and Stacey Train's farmhouse.
Through the scope of his high-powered rifle, Nathaniel Train counted the number of officers and noted their positions before firing a single, fatal shot into Const Arnold's chest.
Gareth Train joined in firing on the officers with his own rifle, wounding Const McCrow while causing her colleagues Const Randall Kirk and Keely Brough to run for cover.
Ms O'Gorman said Const McCrow showed "great courage under fire" by continuing to record information about her attackers and shooting back with all 15 rounds from her pistol.
Gareth Train approached Const McCrow while she was lying on the ground and, after a brief conversation, fatally shot her in the head.
Nathaniel Train joined Gareth and Stacey soon afterwards and shot dead their neighbour Alan Dare, 58, who had come to investigate.
By 10:41pm that night, all three Trains had been killed by Special Emergency Response (SERT) police officers after refusing to negotiate or surrender.
NSW Police did not share all the information they had about the Trains with Queensland, including threatening emails from Gareth, but Ms O'Gorman said this did not spell out a potential risk to police.
Even if the junior officers who arrived at Wieambilla had assault rifles and the latest body armour, they would not have been likely to avoid fatal gunshots or effectively return fire at the concealed shooters.
A person close to Nathaniel Train travelled to Brisbane prior to reporting him missing, intending to ask a family member whether Gareth Train was dangerous, but found it unsuitable to raise the subject.
A triple-zero operator was unable to explicitly warn Alan Dare not to approach the Trains' property as she incorrectly feared punishment for "snooping" if she looked at details of a police-in-danger incident nearby.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Andrew Aboud testified that his posthumous analysis of Gareth Train revealed a long history of concerning behaviour, including as a teenager asking two girlfriends to enter a suicide pact with him.
Dr Aboud said Gareth Train also likely had a paranoid personality disorder that manifested in long-held conspiratorial beliefs such as the Port Arthur massacre being staged to support gun control.
"It started taking over this life to the point he became fully delusional," Dr Aboud said.
The extent of the Trains' shared delusions were illustrated by an incident in 1999 when all three attended a wedding but were asked to leave after accusing guests of committing heinous and bizarre abuse as part of church rituals.
"This had a seismic effect … it created isolation from the rest of the family and from people who might have sought to challenge their thoughts," Dr Aboud said.
Soon after Nathaniel Train collapsed at work in 2021 with a cardiac arrest, Gareth told him not to let the hospital "put a monkey heart" in his chest.
Nathaniel Train later refused to take cardiac medication or receive a pacemaker-style implant.
This medical refusal led NSW Police to label Nathaniel Train's status as "high risk" and seek assistance from Queensland within a week of him being reported missing.
Dr Aboud said the Trains kept shooting at SERT officers because they feared a "fate worse than death" via delusions that police were demonic "meat suits" who would turn them into mindless slaves if arrested.
Mr Ryan will receive written submissions over the next three months before making his findings.
"There are clearly lessons to be learned from this tragedy," Mr Ryan said in closing the hearings.
Australian Associated Press
