Gareth Train, the owner of a rural Queensland property where six people, including two police officers, were shot and killed on Monday, had become deeply entangled in an online conspiracy community, where he posted about a mistrust of police and claims the Port Arthur massacre was a false-flag operation.
The Queensland police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, on Tuesday said there had been “a lot of ammunition and weaponry” at the property, at Wieambilla in the Western Downs, and that the killed officers “did not stand a chance”.
Property records show the land is owned by Gareth Train and his wife, Stacey. Police went to the property on Monday afternoon looking for Gareth’s brother, Nathaniel Train, who had been reported missing by family members.
Two police officers, constables Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, were shot and killed after arriving at the property and a third officer was injured and taken to hospital. Neighbour Alan Dare, 58, was also shot dead by the armed offenders.
Gareth and Nathaniel Train and a woman, who has not yet been identified, were subsequently shot and killed in an operation involving 16 tactical police about six hours later.
A person who knew Gareth and his wife said they believed he had been sucked into online conspiracy theories in recent years.
He appears to have been a prolific poster on an alternative website that posts conspiracy, anti-authoritarian and other articles. He said in one recent post he had been “ark homesteading for the past five years preparing to survive tomorrow”.
“When it becomes clear that we are in a time like no other and you head out into the wilderness to escape persecution, know that my wife and I will offer refuge to all brothers and sisters,” he posted.
“I will be scanning the UHF channels when that times comes.”
Gareth said the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 – Australia’s deadliest mass shooting – had been a “false flag” operation to “disarm the Australian population”.
He also posted about his mistrust for authorities, including comments critical of the Queensland Special Emergency Response Team (Sert), which ultimately arrived at the property and is understood to have shot him.
“If you are a conservative, anti-vaxx [sic], freedom lover, protester, common law, conspiracy talker, alternative news, independent critical thinker, truther, Christian, patriot etc etc expect a visit from these hammers,” he said.
Gareth also posted about working in the Queensland child protection and education systems and appeared pre-occupied with the notion the government was running “re-education camps”.
Nathaniel Train had been living in the New South Wales town of Walgett, where he was the principal of a community primary school until August 2021, after working in several schools in north Queensland.
Family members were last in contact in October this year, and he was reported missing in NSW on 4 December.
The NSW parliament heard that in March, Nathaniel sent 16 emails over the course of two weeks to the NSW Department of Education outlining problems and challenges at the school, and requesting assistance.
A spokesperson for NSW education said he had not been working at the school since August 2021, and “officially left our employment in March this year”.
“Extra counselling will be provided at the impacted school today and for as long as staff and students require support,” the spokesperson said.
Carroll would not say on Monday whether she believed the police officers had been “lured” to the Wieambilla property on Monday. She said that when the officers arrived, they were ambushed.
“Walking towards the house and where this apparently took place, they were in an exposed area where I would go back to say that I cannot believe that two officers got out alive,” Carroll said.
“We did go there as a result of a report of a missing person. Police always do thorough checks before they go into these environments.
The Queensland police union has described the shooting as “a ruthless, calculated and targeted execution of our colleagues”.
