Donald Train (right) is the father of cop killers Nathaniel and Gareth Train. He had not seen Nathaniel in 23 years
The deeply religious father of two brothers who murdered two young police officers in cold blood had not seen at least one of his sons in 23 years.
Brothers Nathaniel, 46, and Gareth Train, 47, and Gareth’s wife Stacey, 45, gunned down constables Matthew Arnold, 29, and Rachel McCrow, 26, as they walked up the driveway to their home in Wieambilla, west of Brisbane, on Monday afternoon.
Two other officers managed to flee the murderous trio – heavily armed and dressed in camouflage – while innocent neighbour Alan Dare, 58, who ran over to investigate was also shot dead.
Attention has now turned to the surviving Train family as police question why the murderous trio were living off-the-grid and why they had descended into a life of conspiracy theories and violent militarisation.
However, it’s unlikely police will get any answers from Nathaniel and Gareth’s father Donald after he revealed in a Facebook comment he was estranged from his son.
‘Nathaniel is my youngest son. While we have not seen each other for 23 years, he is much loved,’ he wrote on Facebook.
‘We trust our Lord is watching over his well-being.’
Donald was commenting on a missing person’s post for Nathaniel – who hadn’t been seen since December 2021.
Nathaniel maintained contact with some family members until October 2022 but when he cut off all communication, a missing person’s report was filed on December 4.
Queensland Police was following up on a request from NSW Police to investigate when they were killed at the Wieambilla shooting.
Nathaniel Train (pictured), his brother Gareth and Gareth’s partner Stacey shot at and killed three people at their property in Wieambilla, west of Brisbane
Mr Train revealed he had not seen his son in more than two decades after he was reported missing in December this year
Mr Train, who is now a retired pastor, is a deeply religious man and has worked with the church for more than 30 years.
He has written several books about Christianity and faith, with one titled ‘Without Absolutes, God is not God’ and another ‘The Bridge to Eternal Life’.
When approached by the media on Tuesday following the deaths of his sons, Mr Train refused to divulge any details of what he’d been told and instead closed his garage door on reporters.
‘I am not going to share anything with you, you can speculate and make up as much as you want,’ he told reporters, while holding a bag of Lindt chocolate balls.
‘I have lost two children.
‘I have already had conversations with police so I don’t need to talk to you.’
Police were at the homestead to check for the presence of Nathaniel Train, who had been reported missing after abruptly leaving his job as a teacher and his wife and home in New South Wales
Constables Rachel McCrow, 29 (left) and Matthew Arnold, 26, (right) were both gunned down upon entering Gareth Train’s property in Wieambilla, rural Queensland
It’s understood religion played a major role in the Train family, with the Hebrew name Nathaniel meaning ‘the gift of God’.
It comes as investigators are now looking into whether Nathaniel had been married to Stacey before she wed his older brother Gareth.
Nathaniel, a once-well-respected school principal, walked out on his wife and life in Walgett, in NSW’s central west, at about the same time he raised allegations of a NAPLAN cheating scandal at the school where he was working.
It’s understood he then moved into the Wieambilla home owned by his brother and Stacey.
The scene of the 90-minute shootout that left vehicles and the house riddled in bullets
The four officers had gone to the rural property, built off the grid and with solar panels and water tanks, on Monday at about 4.30pm to check on the disappearance of Nathaniel.
Before they even made it to the front door, the trio started firing at the officers until they too were eventually shot dead by a squad of specialist police at about 10.30pm local time.
Every possible motivation for the senseless killings will be investigated by police, who will also look at body camera footage to piece together how the tragic events unfolded.
Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll vowed to ‘get to the bottom’ of what happened.
A timeline of events at the Wieambilla shootout that left two police, three assailants and a neighbour dead
‘We’re definitely investigating every avenue, whether it be premeditated, some of the stuff that’s online from these people,’ she told ABC’s 7.30.
‘We will investigate what they have been doing not only in recent weeks, but in recent years, who have they been interacting with, family, friends, their online presence.’
Slain officers Arnold and McCrow and their two surviving colleagues, Constables Randall Kirk and Keely Brough believed they were going to a business-as-usual missing person job.
‘I know that the officer in charge also spoke to them, so they were quite comfortable going out to the property and, in fact, from what I understand, quite jovial and having fun with each other. For us, this was a standard job,’ Commissioner Carroll added.
Asked what the preparation would have been for the officers before heading out to the job, she said a risk assessment had been carried out.
‘We will always do a risk assessment and run those required checks to ensure that we have all the information we need. And that was done on this occasion. So they were comfortable going to this job as a BAU [business as usual] job,’ she said.
