Former neighbours of three hermit cop-killers say one of them pulled his wife around by the hair and left the gutted carcasses of pigs he hunted around local swimming holes.
Stacey, Gareth and Nathaniel Train were killed by a specialist police team in Wieambilla, about 300km west of Brisbane, on Monday after they shot dead two police officers performing a missing persons search, as well as a neighbour.
While the horror shooting that left six people dead has shocked Australia, people who had encountered the family at the heart of the attack said its unsurprising in light of their past behaviour.
Neighbours and colleagues recalled Gareth’s violent tendencies, menacing attitude and gory displays in an interview with the ABC.
Stacey, Gareth and Nathaniel Train shot at four police officers looking to search their Wieambilla property (above) on Monday
Couple Stacey and Gareth (above) were known around rural Queensland for terrorising local children by handing out unnecessary detentions and leaving pig offal on the school oval
One local said that some time ago, Gareth was known around the town of Camooweal, near Queensland’s border with the Northern Territory, for putting on shows with his pigging dogs.
He would frequently take them down to a nearby swimming hole – a popular spot for local kids looking to escape the heat – and send them on the hunt.
Calm afternoon swims would often be cut short by the sounds of boars screaming as one of Gareth’s dogs landed a kill.
‘We would often find the gutted carcasses of pigs there. Sometimes we would see Gareth with his knives running around with the dogs chasing the pigs,’ the resident told the public broadcaster.
Nathaniel and Stacey (above) were married before she left him to marry his brother, Gareth
A makeshift memorial for slain officers Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold has been set up in front of their base police station in Tara (above)
Gareth also reportedly had a habit of cleaning pigs in his backyard, which backed onto the oval of the school where he and Stacey worked.
The local said parents and children repeatedly complained about the smell that Gareth’s makeshift butchery caused but nothing was done.
‘He would butcher them and the blood and offal would be running directly out of their yard onto the school oval,’ the person told the ABC.
Meanwhile, another resident Minnie Kenna told the ABC she saw Gareth once drag Stacey up a flight of stairs by her hair.
But the final straw for Ms Kenna was when she caught Gareth watching his prized dogs having sex.
‘I thought, ‘what sort of a person sits in a chair watching them?’ I thought, ‘you are different’,’ she said.
Stacey and Gareth were infamous in the small Queensland border town of Camooweal where they scared students away from the local state school (above)
Police officers Rachel McCrow (left) and Matthew Arnold (right) were fatally shot on Monday
The couple only grew more isolated as time went by and began to turn to wild anti-authority conspiracy theories.
Social media posts seemingly made by Gareth, and unearthed by Daily Mail Australia earlier this week, show he frequently touting anti-government and anti-vaccination stances and often incomprehensible conspiracy theories.
His posts are being investigated as part of police inquiries into Monday’s shooting.
Monday’s shooting began when four officers attended the couple’s Wieambilla property on Monday looking for Nathaniel Train. Nathaniel was once a respected principal in Queensland and later New South Wales but also slowly isolated himself.
Police have found surveillance equipment at the Wieambilla property – supporting theories the attack was premeditated (pictured, police at the scene)
Police are considering whether the tip that led to officers searching the property came from Stacey, Gareth and Nathaniel in an attempt to ambush them (pictured, an officer at the scene)
His father, Ron, said he hadn’t spoken to either of his sons in 20 years.
However, the rest of Nathaniel’s family became concerned when he fully went ‘off the grid’ and cut communication in October.
Nathaniel Train (above) was reported as a missing person on December 4
They told police the last time they’d seen him was in Dubbo, central west NSW, on December 4, 2021 – the same month Stacey resigned from her work with Queensland’s Department of Education.
NSW Police issued a missing person alert for Nathaniel on December 4 and received a tip saying he was staying at the Wieambilla property.
Police are now considering if that tip call come from Nathaniel, Stacey and Gareth as a way of luring officers into their trap.
Investigators picking through the home following the shooting found it was rigged with electric trip wires and surveillance gear – possibly in preparation for the attack.
Officers Matthew Arnold, Rachel McCrow, Keeley Brough and Randall Kirk entered the bush property at about 4.30pm on Monday and were greeted with a hail of bullets.
Arnold and McCrow were killed ‘execution’ style at point-blank range before Nathaniel, Stacey and Gareth stole their glocks.
Kirk was shot in the leg but managed to escape gunfire and seek medical help at nearby Chinchilla Hospital.
A memorial for officers Arnold and McCrow has been set up outside the Tara police station (pictured, flowers and a note at the memorial site)
Officer Keeley Brough (left) was forced to hide in nearby bushland during the shooting on Monday while Randall Kirk (right) was shot in the leg
Brough ran and hid in nearby bushland and began texting her family, fully believing she was saying her final farewells.
Nathaniel, Stacey and Gareth then set fire to the grass she was in, hoping to smoke her out of hiding.
Brough was later rescued by a specialist police tactical team of 16.
Curious neighbour Alan Dare was also fatally shot after coming to see what was causing the noise and flames.
All three gunmen were shot dead shortly after 10.30pm following a shootout with specialist officers.
Australians around the country have paid tribute to the two police officers killed on duty with candlelit vigils held in their honour and major landmarks lit in blue.
The front of their local station in Tara, some 65km from the shooting, has been turned into a makeshift memorial with residents leaving flowers, toys and letters.
