Two police officers and one bystander among six killed in what appears to be a right-wing conspiracy theorist ambush in rural Australia

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

2 Officers and Bystander Are Killed in Australia Shootout - The New York Times

WWW.NYTIMES.COM

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Three other people, believed to be the assailants, were killed by the police during the incident, the authorities in the state of Queensland said.

 

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 Two police officers and a bystander were killed in a shootout that erupted during an investigation into a missing-person case in the Australian state of Queensland, the police said on Tuesday, with one official describing the officers’ death as a “ruthless” execution.

 

Three other people, believed to have been the attackers, were later shot and killed by the police, officials said.

 

Much was still unknown about the circumstances surrounding the killings, which occurred on Monday at a remote rural property in the Western Downs area. But at a news conference in Chinchilla, Queensland, the state police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, called the events “complex and horrendous.”

 

“This event is the largest loss of police life we have suffered in a single incident in many years,” Commissioner Carroll said, adding, “It is going to take us a number of days, if not weeks, to unravel every single aspect of the scene.”

 

The shootings occurred after four police officers went to the property in Wieambilla, a tiny community about a three-hour drive west of Brisbane, to investigate a report of a missing person, Nathaniel Train, a former school principal from New South Wales, according to the authorities.

 

The officers jumped the fence and were immediately met by a “hail of gunshots,” Ian Leavers, the president of the Queensland Police Union, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

 

Officers Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, were hit and fell to the ground, where they were shot and killed by three people on the property, he said in a statement. Mr. Leavers called it a “ruthless, calculated and targeted execution.”

 

A third officer, Randell Kirk, 27, who was wounded, was able to escape and call for reinforcements. A fourth officer, Keeley Brough, 28, who had joined the police force just eight weeks ago, took cover in long grass, Mr. Leavers said.

 

“They lit the grass on fire to try and coax her out,” he said. “She actually believed that she was either going to be shot or she was going to be burned alive.”

 

 

 

Regarding the terrorists:

 

Wieambilla shooting: property owner Gareth Train posted regularly on online conspiracy website before police killed | Queensland | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Exclusive: The brother of missing man Nathaniel Train had posted about preparing an ark and alleging the Port Arthur attack was a ‘false-flag’ operation

 

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Gareth Train, the owner of a rural Queensland property where six people, including two police officers, were shot and killed on Monday, had become deeply entangled in an online conspiracy community, where he posted about a mistrust of police and claims the Port Arthur massacre was a false-flag operation.

 

A person who knew Gareth and his wife said they believed he had been sucked into online conspiracy theories in recent years.

 

He appears to have been a prolific poster on an alternative website that posts conspiracy, anti-authoritarian and other articles. He said in one recent post he had been “ark homesteading for the past five years preparing to survive tomorrow”.

 

“When it becomes clear that we are in a time like no other and you head out into the wilderness to escape persecution, know that my wife and I will offer refuge to all brothers and sisters,” he posted.

 

Gareth said the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 – Australia’s deadliest mass shooting – had been a “false flag” operation to “disarm the Australian population”.

He also posted about his mistrust for authorities, including comments critical of the Queensland Special Emergency Response Team (Sert), which ultimately arrived at the property and is understood to have shot him.

 

“If you are a conservative, anti-vaxx [sic], freedom lover, protester, common law, conspiracy talker, alternative news, independent critical thinker, truther, Christian, patriot etc etc expect a visit from these hammers,” he said.

 

 

[Bacon]

My second thought when reading that headline was that Australia would make a great setting for a GTA knockoff. 

[Jwheel86]

I wonder if they'll let the SAS handle any resulting warrants. 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

If you are a conservative, anti-vaxx [sic], freedom lover, protester, common law, conspiracy talker, alternative news, independent critical thinker, truther, Christian, patriot etc etc expect a visit from these hammers,” he said.

If only