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Mystery surrounds how a well-respected educator turned into an evil killer as shock new claims emerge he took ice and was embroiled in a bizarre love triangle with his brother and sister-in-law before the trio claimed three innocent lives.

Nathaniel Train, 46, was a well-respected member of the community who for decades worked as a primary school teacher and principal in regional communities across Queensland and NSW.

His life derailed a year ago after an almost-fatal heart attack ended his career as he walked out on his wife and hadn’t been seen for months.

Train, his brother Gareth and sister-in-law Stacey will be remembered as senseless killers following a mass shooting in a remote Queensland community that claimed the innocent lives of two brave young police officers and a Good Samaritan neighbour.

The trio executed constables Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, and his innocent neighbour, Alan Dare, 58, in an ambush at their rural property in Wieambilla west of Brisbane, on Monday before they were killed six hours later during a late night shootout with tactical police.

Shock new details have emerged that Nathaniel was reportedly embroiled in a ‘love tryst’ with his brother and sister-in-law after walking out on his wife in western NSW last year.

It comes after devastated locals told Daily Mail Australia the brothers had also been bingeing on methamphetamine  and bragging about their ‘fortified house’ in the lead up to the tragedy which has rocked the Western Downs region.

 Police will try to unravel the complicated relationship between the trio, amid suggestions Nathaniel was once married to his sister-in-law Stacey before she married his brother Gareth.

Nathaniel Train (pictured) was a successful and well-liked educator for 23 years before his life derailed earlier this year

Nathaniel Train (pictured) was a successful and well-liked educator for 23 years before his life derailed earlier this year

Matthew Arnold, 26, was killed upon arriving at the property

Rachel McCrow, 29, was also shot dead upon arriving at the Wieambilla property

Faces of the dead: Matthew Arnold, 26, was killed upon arriving at the property, as was Rachel McCrow, 29

One source claimed the three were in a ‘love tryst’ which formed part of the background to the mass killing, The Australian reported.

Several questions remain unanswered, including how the life of a popular educator who was a leader in his field known a track record of turning schools around and improving NAPLAN results derailed in the final 16 months of his life.

It’s not known why Train sought refuge with his brother Gareth, whose history of posting wild conspiracy theories may have rubbed off on his brother.

Gareth has since been revealed to have had links to several websites promoting conspiracy theories, where he posted extreme and bizarre views.

Gareth also believed the Port Arthur gunman Martin Bryant, was the ‘perfect patsy’ and the 1996 mass murder of 35 people was staged and that Princess Diana was killed as a ‘blood sacrifice’.

The men’s father Ronald Train is a very religious as a retired pastor and Christian author, who admitted he hadn’t seen Nathaniel in more than two decades.

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‘Nathaniel is my youngest son. Whilst we have not seen each other for 23 years, he is much loved,’ Ronald posted after Nathaniel was reported missing by police.

‘We trust our lord is watching over his well-being.’

Nathaniel Train (pictured) worked as a teacher and principal at schools across regional NSW and Queensland

Nathaniel Train (pictured) worked as a teacher and principal at schools across regional NSW and Queensland

Candlelight vigils for the two slain police officers and Good Samaritan Alan Dare were held across Queensland on Tuesday night. Pictured: Mourners at Calamvale, south of Brisbane

Candlelight vigils for the two slain police officers and Good Samaritan Alan Dare were held across Queensland on Tuesday night. Pictured: Mourners at Calamvale, south of Brisbane

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.

‘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.

Heartbroken locals paid tribute to the fallen officers Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow outside Tara Police station, where the two constables were stationed

Heartbroken locals paid tribute to the fallen officers Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow outside Tara Police station, where the two constables were stationed

Former school principal Nathaniel Train was well-respected by colleagues, parents and pupils

Former school principal Nathaniel Train was well-respected by colleagues, parents and pupils

Daily Mail Australia earlier revealed the Trains had spent years fortifying the wooden home on Wieambilla into a makeshift bunker to try to fend off an assault by police which they had long anticipated. 

A family member told a local the family had set up elaborate defences, and moved it off the grid, installing solar panels, satellite dishes and rainwater and septic tanks.

‘He said it had tunnels, fortified and barred doors and windows, guns everywhere and the boys [the Train brothers] had been taking ice lately,’ the local in nearby Tara said.

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Nathaniel Train taught at a school near Townsville in north Queensland from 1999 and within 11 years, had scored his first principal role at a school in Dimbulah, west of Cairns.

At his next school in Innisfail, Train ran a tight ship where teachers followed a daily schedule to follow and pupils started each class with a chant designed to memorise information.

His efforts reaped instant dividends as school results improved. 

‘I’m astounded at how quickly things have turned around,’ Train told The Australian in 2013.

One Innisfail parent was ‘so very shocked’ to hear what had happened on Monday.

 ‘He was just a very happy man that loved kids and they loved him,’ they told A Current Affair 

Train achieved similar results during his next stint at Yorkeys Knob State School where the mild mannered principal made the local newspaper five years ago for letting pupils decorate his long beard to raise funds for the school.

‘He was quiet, but he seemed stern but caring with the kids,’ parent Paige Foster recalled.

A timeline of events at the Wiembilla shootout that left two police, three assailants and a neighbour dead

A timeline of events at the Wiembilla shootout that left two police, three assailants and a neighbour dead

A former colleague told Daily Mail Australia: ‘He made Yorkeys the highest performing NAPLAN school in far north Queensland.’

The parent of one student added: ‘I don’t get it. Mr Train was such a great person around the students.

‘He helped my daughter transition into the school mid year and without him playing tag with her every break she wouldn’t have done as well.

‘When he was leaving we went up to him and thanked him and his eyes welled up. What ever has happened we will always remember his good side.

‘We are shocked.’

Train, 46, then joined Walgett Community College Primary School in NSW as executive principal in 2020.

But within months, he found himself embroiled in a row over a cheating incident during a NAPLAN exam at the school.

One student, who shared a surname with a teaching assistant, was said to have been unable to answer the first two questions – but then got the next 34 all correct.

Members of the community are reeling from the shocking tragedy and laid flowers outside Tara Police station

Members of the community are reeling from the shocking tragedy and laid flowers outside Tara Police station

Neighbour Alan Dare (pictured with wife Kerry) was shot dead after he went to investigate the gunshots. The couple would have celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary on Wednesday

Neighbour Alan Dare (pictured with wife Kerry) was shot dead after he went to investigate the gunshots. The couple would have celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary on Wednesday

Train allegedly raised the alarm about the incident at his own school, but turned to One Nation NSW leader Mark Latham when he claimed the NSW Education Department had ignored him.

He stopped working at the school in August after he suffered a massive heart attack at the school and had to be revived by his teachers.

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But Train kept pursuing the cheating row with education officials in a series of increasingly frustrated emails, according to Mr Latham.

In the space of just a fortnight in March, Train sent 16 emails to the education department secretary Georgina Harrison begging her to tackle the problem.

Train was last seen in Dubbo on December 16, 2021 and hadn’t been heard from since October.

He officially left his job at Walgett in March 2022 and later walked out on his wife. He was last in contact with her on October 9, according to police.

NSW Police issued a missing persons notice for him four days ago and had asked Queensland Police to make a check with his brother at his rural property, and the four officers attended.

Rachel McCrow, 29, joined the Queensland police force in June 2021

Matthew Arnold, 26, joined the forced in March 2020

Constables Rachel McCrow, 29 (left) and Matthew Arnold, 26, (right) were both gunned down upon entering Gareth Train’s property in Wieambilla, rural Queensland

HOW THE TRAGEDY UNFOLDED 

Monday 4.30pm: Four officers attended a property on Wains Road at Wieambilla as part of inquiries into a missing school principal Nathaniel Train, 46, last seen in Dubbo in central-west NSW a year ago

4.30-5pm: Two gunmen dressed in camo, Nathaniel Train and his brother Gareth opened fire as police ­approached the house 

Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, and his colleague Rachel McCrow, 29, were shot at close range and hit the ground. The gunmen stood over the injured officers and shot them dead before taking their Glock pistols.  Neighbour Alan Dare, 58, was also shot dead.

After 5pm:  A third officer, Constable Randall Kirk, who was shot in the leg but managed to escape is taken to the local hospital. His colleague, rookie cop Constable Keely Brough fled into surrounding bushland and is later rescued by a specialist police tactical team.

6pm: Police declare an emergency declaration zone encompassing the area between Chinchilla Tara Rd, Wieambilla Rd, Bennetts School Rd, and Mary Street.

After 6pm: Sporadic gunfire was reported by locals throughout the night

10.30pm: Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll pays tribute to the killed officers in an emotional press conference

11.30pm:  Nathaniel Train and his brother Gareth, along with the brother’s wife Stacey are shot dead following shootout with Special Emergency Response Team police

Tuesday morning:  A convoy of police vehicles accompanying the bodies of the two slain police officers carried in vans left the crime scene en route to Brisbane’s forensic mortuary on Tuesday morning.

The remains of constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold are expected to arrive by late morning at the John Tonge centre at Coopers Plains in Brisbane’s west, where they will undergo autopsies.

 

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