“The beginning of sorrows, when there shall be much lamentation; the beginning of famine, when many shall perish; the beginning of wars, when the powers shall be terrified; the beginning of calamities, when all shall tremble.”

It’s a quote from the bible used by Stacey Train to explain the “horror of the last days”.

This was what Stacey Train began in her final eight minute statement she recorded and posted on YouTube after she, Gareth and Nathaniel shot Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, and neighbour Alan Dare at their property in the Western Downs on December 12 last year.

It was recorded before the trio's own lives came to an end.

After an intensive investigation, Queensland police say the deadly shooting in the rural community of Wieambilla was a "religiously motivated terrorist attack" and that the trio responsible were influenced by an extremist Christian belief system

Queensland Deputy Commissioner Tracey Linford said police had been investigating Stacey Train's diary, as well as the trio's texts, social media postings and 190 interviews. Linford said the trio saw police "as monsters and demons".

In the a collation of videos made by the Trains in the lead-up and after the attack viewed by the Western Plains App, we can confirm Trains made references to “spiritual war”, “idolatrous ideology”, “ false religion”, “the beast system” and indeed to police officers as “demons”.

Gareth and Stacey Train on their wedding day. Source: Channel Nine/Ron Train.

In other parts of the video the Trains make threats make specific police officers (not the police officers killed) about a week out from the shootings.

Around the same time they posted a video of still images of an axe and a knife with the entire song of “Stand by Me” playing in the background.

Bishop Mark Calder who leads the Anglican Church in Central and Western NSW told the Western Plains App the Trains beliefs “were a complete and utter distortion of Christian beliefs, teachings, laws and the message of Jesus”.

“The fundamental teaching of the bible is that God loves us and that we must not kill,” he said.

Premillennial Beliefs Linked to Violence

"What we've been able to glean from that information is that the Train family members subscribe to what we would call a broad Christian fundamentalist belief system, known as premillennialism," Linford said yesterday (Thursday 16 February).

Josh Roose, an Associate Professor of Politics and expert on far-right and religious extremism at Deakin University told the ABC that 'premillennialism' … "is a Christian belief that in effect, the world is so corrupt, so evil, so beyond repair that at some point, in the near future, we're facing the implosion of the world effectively … an apocalyptic event and that Jesus will return to Earth."

Independent Dr Gerard Gill independent researcher wrote about the Wiembiella shootings on Global Network on Extremism & Technology said that “Millenarian movements have shown a propensity towards violence."

"The implications of this rest as much, or more, on perceived rather than actual danger. The murders in Wieambilla are a clear example of this, wherein the perpetrator’s view of the police as “devils and demons” appears to have determined their lethal response to the approach of investigating officers”.

He also added that the Trains videos and material posted online showed they had much in common with the Freedom Movement “ a movement borne out of anti-vaccine protest but growing to become more all-encompassing and conspiracist in nature."

Nathaniel and Gareth’s Train rather Ron ran his own Baptist Ministry Toowoomba. He has publicly condemned the shootings. 

The front cover of Ron Train’s book. Image: Booktopia

Ron Train’s book “Without Absolutes, God Is Not God: An Anthology of Reflections” reveals he had a very different conception to the God as it was preached by the Trains in their videos.

“God is immanent, transcendent and eternal. Without fierce, visceral belief there is nothing. God’s love does not ebb and flow like human love. He sees God as loving, forgiving, merciful as well as all-powerful” he writes.

Attack “directed” at police

Earlier this week, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess told a Senate Committee that terror attack in Australia is likely to be committed by an individual, or small number of extremists, rather than groups.

He said "religiously motivated" extremism now accounts for 70 per cent of the spy agency's anti-terror workload, up from roughly 50 per cent in 2021.

Nathaniel Train was a Principal at Walgett Community College Primary School up until 2021. Image: Facebook

“We don't believe this attack was random or spontaneous," Deputy Police Commissioner Linford said on Thursday.

She said Police did find camouflaged hiding places at the property as well as barriers such logs and dirt mounds, six firearms, three bow and arrows, a number of knives, CCTV, radios, mirrors on trees, and a trap door under the house - apparently designed for escape.

A major investigation into the incident remains ongoing on behalf of the State Coroner.