A deadly ambush that claimed the lives of two Queensland Police officers and a bystander is not being considered domestic terrorism.
Deputy Commissioner of Queensland Police, Tracy Linford, confirmed on Thursday that the Train family members responsible for the killings were not flagged as dangerous, nor were they on a watch list.
“We are certainly not classing it as a domestic terror event,” Ms Linford said.
“At this point, there’s nothing to indicate that.
“What we can see is sentiment displayed by the three individuals … that appears to be anti-government, anti-police, conspiracy theorist type thing.
“But we can’t see them connected to any particular group they might be working with or who inspired them to do anything.”
Ms Linford told media that police paid numerous visits to the Wieambilla property, inquiring about Nathaniel Train after an illegal NSW-QLD border crossing in December 2021 that saw him damage a gate and abandon his vehicle containing guns registered in his name.
“Nathaniel Train had crossed over the Queensland border from New South Wales and had driven his vehicle through an e-gate, causing damage, and his vehicle got bogged at that location,” she said.
“And when police subsequently investigated the vehicle because they were speaking to other locals in the area, two firearms were handed in.”
His national firearms license was suspended for failing to secure firearms properly.
Nathaniel had not been seen by his wife in NSW for a year and was a missing person in NSW at the time of the December 12 shooting.
On the evening of the ambush at the property belonging to Nathaniel’s brother Gareth and his former wife Stacey, constables Matthew Arnold, Rachel McCrow, Keely Brough, and Randall Kirk had a warrant to serve on Nathaniel for wilful damage and failing to secure firearms relating to the illegal border crossing.
Ms Linford said apart from Nathaniel’s border crossing and a traffic offence in 2014, he had no other history.
Gareth also had a reasonably clean police record apart from a 1998 offence of unlawfully possessing a firearm.
“Stacey Train, we have no criminal history of intelligence holdings on her,” Ms Linford said.
But on the night of December 12, after murdering constables Arnold and McCrow, and neighbour Alan Dare, the three Trains were killed in a lengthy shootout with Queensland Police’s elite Special Emergency Response Team.
Six guns (three unregistered), three compound bows and three knives were later found at the property.
Ms Linford detailed what would be a “complex investigation”.
“We’ve been trawling through social media and have been using the expertise of the AFP in that work, trying to understand and trying to find any postings or information about the Trains on social media,” she said.
“We are trying to create a timeline of everything they did in the weeks and months leading up to last Monday.
“That means looking at all the phone data, texts, call charge records, emails, examining all their electronic devices, examining all the documents that were seized.
“We’re trawling through all their bank accounts, looking at what purchases they’ve made, and that might lead us then to other avenues of inquiry.”
Although the Trains did not register with the police as a significant threat, the Deputy Commissioner urged the community to be vigilant for “concerning behaviour”.
“We didn’t have any flags … that raised concerns to us about these individuals,” she said.
“They are not somebody who were on our watch list.
“But I would implore anybody in the community if they come across or know somebody that has concerning behaviour, that we are now starting to find out about the Train family members, anything like that, we would really like them to come forward and contact police.”