The site of the Wieambilla ambush, Queensland’s worst police shooting, is up for sale.
In 2022, conspiracy theorists Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train killed constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow at their remote property at 251 Wains Road, about 300km west of Brisbane.
They went on to kill neighbour Alan Dare before being killed in a shootout with specialist tactical police at the steps of the dwelling, where they lived.
The trio spent months establishing a military-style ambush position on the 43-hectare block.
Aidan Train, the son of Nathaniel and Stacey Train, is now the executor of Stacey’s estate, including 251 Wains Road. He said he had negotiated with the Queensland Police Union of Employees (QPU), which said in 2022 that it wanted to buy the property to avoid it falling into the hands of other conspiracy theorists.
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Train said hehad reached a mutual agreement with the union and had presented them a price and a contract, but it hadn’t been signed. Despite numerous attempts to contact them, he said he hadn’t heard anything from them since October.
Train said he didn’t think conspiracy theorists would be able to afford the property.
“I definitely don’t really want to sell it to someone who thinks that my parents did the right thing or agrees with what they did,” he said.
The QPU president, Shane Prior, said it was “surprising to learn that Mr Train has placed the property on the open market, as the QPU has been negotiating in good faith”.
“The QPU is currently undertaking appropriate due diligence in considering the option to purchase the Wains Road property,” he said.
“This includes fiduciary considerations relating to expenditure of member funds for both the purchase and the ongoing property maintenance.”
Train believes the most likely buyers are documentary makers or the union, which he still hopes will agree to a sale.
“It’s time for the property to be sold. It’s part of my responsibilities as the executive the estate. And it’s been long enough and something needs to happen with that property,” he said.
The property is listed for $190,000.
In his listing Train says he is “hoping for a quick sale to someone who will be respectful of the property, considering its history”.
Photos taken for the listing this week show the dwelling is dilapidated and still filled with items left by the killers, including clothes, kitchen white goods and videotapes. Police investigators seized numerous items of forensic interest from the property, according to the coroner.
In 2022 the police union reportedly considered demolishing the structure and using the lot for a retreat or training centre.
Wieambilla is about 300km west of Brisbane, halfway between Chinchilla and Tara. The coroner heard that many of the people who live in the area do so to remain off the grid.
A coronial inquest into the shootings judged that Gareth Train had deluded personality disorder and believed the police were devils who were persecuting him.
Nathaniel and Stacey Train adopted identical delusions as a result of a shared psychotic disorder, according to the coroner.
The families of the two constables killed did not wish to comment.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
