A coroner is set to outline issues for the forthcoming inquest into the deadly shootout that claimed the lives of two police officers and four other people on a remote Queensland property.
A pre-inquest conference, with State Coroner Terry Ryan presiding, on Thursday will establish what findings need to be made over the deaths and will be followed by inquest hearings later.
Queensland Police constables Matthew Joseph Arnold, 26, and Rachel Clare McCrow, 29, along with two other officers attended a property at Wieambilla, on the Western Downs on December 12.
The four officers were there to carry out a welfare check and to follow up on reports of a COVID-19 state border closure breach but were fired upon when they approached the property.
Constables Arnold and McCrow were wounded and then fatally shot at close range in what Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers described as a “ruthless and calculated execution”.
A male officer was able to escape in a police vehicle while another female officer fled into bushland.
The three suspects in the shooting, Gareth Daniel Train, 47, Nathaniel Charles Train, 46, and Stacey Jane Train, 45, lit fires in an attempt to flush out the escaping female officer.
The Trains also shot dead Alan Thomas Dare, 58, who went from his neighbouring property to investigate.
The trio were shot dead by emergency response officers who entered the property six hours later with the aid of armoured vehicles and a helicopter.
– AAP
