Australian inquiry will hear evidence that Christian extremists killed 3 in an act of terrorism

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An inquiry will hear evidence that three Christian extremists who killed two police officers and a bystander and wounded a third police officer in an ambush on a rural Australian property in 2022 committed an act of terrorism aimed at intimidating state authorities, a coroner was told on Monday.

Queensland State Coroner Terry Ryan began hearing the inquiry into a siege in the sparsely populated Wieambilla region west of the state capital, Brisbane, on Dec. 12, 2022.

Brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train and Gareth’s wife Stacey Train were killed by police hours after they fired on four police officers who attended their fortified Wieambilla property to check on Nathaniel’s welfare. Stacey had been married to Nathaniel and had two children with him before marrying his older brother.

The lawyer presenting the evidence, Ruth O’Gorman, said in her opening statement that Deakin University political sociologist Josh Roose would give evidence to the hearing that the ambush was terrorism.

“He has opined that the events of Dec. 12, 2022, constitute a terrorist act done with the intention of advancing a religious ideological cause with the aim of coercing and intimidating the Queensland government and specifically the Queensland Police Service who were viewed as public state actors and evil, demonic and as devils through this religious framework,” O’Gorman said.

The inquest was shown a video that Gareth and Stacey posted on social media from their house as police helicopters and armored vehicles surrounded them, calling on them to surrender.

The couple had directed their message to Arizona resident Donald Day Jr., who has since been charged in the United States with making threatening online comments.

“They came to kill us and we killed them,” Gareth Train said.

“If you don’t defend yourself against these devils and demons, you’re a coward,” he added.

Both Gareth and Stacey told Day they would see him “at home.” O’Gorman said that appeared to be a reference to an afterlife.

The video was recorded after the trio had killed police officers Rachel McCow and Matthew Arnold and wounded Randall Kirk. A fourth officer, Keely Brough, fled into woods.

The Trains’ neighbor, Alan Dare, was also killed when he came to investigate the gunfire and smoke from a police car that the Trains had set alight.

Police had been checking on Nathaniel’s welfare after his new partner, whose name cannot be published for legal reasons, raised concerns about his health following a heart attack a year earlier.

Nathaniel and his partner were living in New South Wales state at the time. He had illegally crossed the border to visit his brother, defying COVID-19 state border restrictions. A local who helped him across the flooded border raised the alarm.

All three Trains had refused COVID-19 vaccinations, which excluded Nathaniel and Stacey from their work in government schools. Both had been school principals.

“COVID, in many ways, seems to be a trigger to some of the events that occurred,” O'Gorman said.

The inquiry is expected to last five weeks.