The brothers behind the Wieambilla shooting that killed two police officers and a neighbour had previously fallen out after one began a relationship with the other’s wife, relatives say.
Guardian Australia has confirmed that Gareth Train’s wife, Stacey, previously married his brother Nathaniel when they were in their late teens in September 1995. All three were killed by tactical police on Monday.
Family members say Nathaniel and Stacey were high school sweethearts in Toowoomba, where both were involved in the independent evangelical church run by the brothers’ father, pastor Ronald A Train.
A few years into their marriage – after the birth of two children - Stacey is understood to have left Nathaniel to pursue a relationship with Gareth. The new relationship created a rift within the broader family, including between the brothers and their ultraconservative father, whose church had strict views on marriage.
Gareth and Stacey would later spend time in Proston, a tiny community in the South Burnett region, Cairns and Mount Isa, where Gareth worked as a school groundsman.
About seven years ago, Gareth and Stacey bought the Wieambilla property where the shooting took place.
Stacey worked as principal of the school at Proston, and the head of curriculum at the Tara Shire State College, not far from Wieambilla, until resigning last year. She no longer held a teaching registration.
A former colleague told Guardian Australia that Stacey resigned due to the Queensland government’s vaccination mandate for teachers, which came into effect this year. Gareth’s posts indicate a belief Covid vaccinations were “not good”.
It is unclear what brought Nathaniel to his brother’s doorstep during the past year.
The former colleague of Stacey Train, who was not authorised to speak publicly by Queensland’s education department, said Stacey had taken several weeks of leave last year following Nathaniel’s heart attack, which reportedly occurred in August.
“Stacey disappeared for a few weeks because [Nathaniel] had a heart attack. It was really bad and she went to help him.”
The colleague said, however, that she would be shocked if Stacey was in a relationship with two men at the same time, given the strength of her religious views.
A relative of the Train brothers also said they were “too religious to believe in open relationships or polyamory”.
The colleague of Stacey Train said they had worked closely together, and while they were not friends outside of school, she had found her kind and supportive.
“I’m really struggling to match up what happened, and who she was.”
It became clear last year that Stacey, along with a number of other staff, would be leaving the school due to the vaccination mandates, the colleague said.
“She didn’t go around spruiking her thoughts or anything like that, but we knew she had alternative views and was anti-vax, and there was the sense there was ‘big government interference’ and things like that.
“I was trying to convince her to stay, and I said ‘I should hold you down and force it into you’, and her face just dropped … and her eyes got wide with horror.”
Stacey had said she was not concerned about having to resign “because they had enough money to survive for many, many years without working”, according to the former colleague.
“They were living off the grid, and renovating the house; she was looking forward to all that,” the colleague said.
“They were fine to live off this nest egg ... but at the same time she was devastated to have to leave.”
Police are trying to piece together the events leading up to Monday’s shooting. On Tuesday, the Guardian revealed Gareth Train had a history of posting on conspiracy websites.
Queensland’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, told the Guardian on Wednesday that police would “interrogate every part of those people’s lives”.
“Not just in recent weeks but over the last 12 months, years if need be. Speak to family. Speak to friends. Look at every part of their lives to find out why this happened,” Carroll said.
Neighbour Alan Dare, 58, was also shot by the armed offenders.
His tearful widow, Kerry Dare, spoke to A Current Affair on Wednesday night – the couple’s 26th wedding anniversary – and said he was trying to help after they heard gunshots and saw smoke.
“It felt like they went forever,” she said of the gunshots. Dare went to investigate and was killed.
Kerry Dare revealed her husband’s body was left by the side of the road for more than 12 hours before it could be retrieved.
