Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, were shot and killed at a Queensland property. Photo / Facebook
Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, were shot and killed at a Queensland property. Photo / Facebook
Disturbing police radio has captured the moment officers confronted gunmen who killed two cops in rural Queensland.
Constables Rachel McCrow, 29, and Matthew Arnold, 26, were killed at a property in Wieambilla, about three hours west of Brisbane, on Monday afternoon as they carried out a missing persons call.
Neighbour Alan Dare, was also shot and killed in the attack, which sparked a massive manhunt for the offenders.
McCrow is reported to have begged for her life as her killer stood over her. They mercilessly then shot her and Arnold dead at close range.
Tactical response officers were rushed in before brothers Nathaniel and Gareth Train, and the latter’s wife Stacey, were shot dead.
Now chilling audio has emerged of the moment the officers confronted the gunmen.
“We believe POI [Person of Interest] 2 may be discharging rounds. Shots fired,” a male officer says over the radio.
“It appears POI 2 is attempting to reload. POI 1 potentially taken a round here. POI 1 no movement. No movement from number 2 and appears to be blood on the ground,” he adds.
A crew each from Tara and Chinchilla Police Stations had arrived at the remote property about 4.40pm, and a source close to the investigation told NCA NewsWire what unfolded next was “very, very rapid”.
Constable Keely Brough was one of the officers who survived the horrific shooting. Photo / Facebook
McCrow and Arnold arrived in the first vehicle, and met a second car containing Constables Keely Brough and Randall Kirk, both aged 28, before approaching the property.
McCrow and Arnold then honked their horn to alert the residents of their presence.
When there was no movement from inside the house, the four officers got out of their cars and approached the house.
McCrow and Arnold jumped over the locked fence, with the other two following.
Seconds later, a shower of bullets descended on the four officers.
McCrow and Arnold were instantly hit, and fell to the ground.
NCA Newswire understands Kirk was also shot in the leg in the same hail of gunfire, but managed to make it back to his police car as he hadn’t jumped the fence.
The offenders gave chase and fired into his car, showering him with glass as he drove away, calling for help.
As the assailants hunted Kirk, Brough had managed to escape on foot into dense scrubland.
The young officer had only been on the police force for eight weeks.
Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers revealed the gunmen lit a bushfire in an attempt to force the remaining two officers out of hiding before backup arrived.
Leavers revealed the16 special forces officers sent to retrieve the dead bodies of their colleagues and Dare and to extract Brough from the burning bush were also shot at in a final sickening act.
He added that the officers “never had a chance” and this is “not what you expect” when responding to a call about a missing person.
“[Brough] did not know whether she was going to be shot or she was going to be burned alive,” he said.
“I know she was sending messages to loved ones saying she was at a point where she thought it was her time.”
Brough was just weeks into her dream job when the deadly shooting unfolded, with a blog post explaining how hard she had to work to make it onto the police force.
The 28-year-old was also a qualified personal trainer and ran a website where she posted about her fitness journey and her dream of becoming a police officer.
In a July 2019 blog post, Brough explained the fitness testing requirements for the Queensland Police and what she had been doing to prepare.
She said she had been receiving a number of messages from people asking her about the fitness requirements for the Queensland Police, revealing she was a member of most recruitment groups on Facebook and “knew the process back to front”.
“Long story short, to pass the fitness testing for QPS was the long-term goal I wrote when I first saw my PT,” she wrote.
“In fact, it still is my long-term goal, I’ve always wanted to be a cop.
“She was in contact with her other colleagues trying to assure them we could get support to go and assist their fallen colleagues at that point in time,” Leavers said.
“All the police involved yesterday, they were just brave, brave people to put their lives on the line to try and do their job.”
Leavers described Brough as an “amazing young policewoman”.
“She’s been in the police eight to nine weeks since she was sworn in,” he said.
“And when she believed her life was about to come to an end, she never stopped trying to do the right thing and communicate with her colleagues. She tried to do what she possibly could.”
The young officer was eventually rescued by a 16-strong extraction team of police who also recovered the bodies of the two murdered officers.
Leavers said the Special Operations team were “confronted by the murderous trio” when they arrived at the property.
“They resolved the situation and they used the weapons they had and the people who executed our police, they’re also deceased,” he said.
”We try to resolve things as peacefully as we possibly can, but that was not the case. It was a tragedy.
“We’re very fortunate because for the entirety of the time, all police from the first response police to our special operations police, they were continually under fire. It’s something out of the movies that you think will never ever happen.”
Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the bravery of the surviving officers was “unbelievable”.
“To think that they survived the scene, let alone then got out to make phone calls and call for assistance, was just extraordinary,” she said.
Carroll said she would meet Brough soon, adding the officer has already talked people through what happened.
“The people that I have spoken to cannot believe how she survived and what she did during that period of time,” she said.
Officers killed ‘execution style’
After the four officers were sprayed with bullets as they approached the Queensland property, two of the wounded officers were seen to be approached by at least two shooters clad in military-style camouflage fatigues, according to the Australian.
Horrifyingly, the officers were then shot execution-style where they lay.
A witness reported seeing the suspects then take the slain police officers’ pistols, according to the newspaper.
Leavers told ABC News Breakfast that the families of those killed and police officers all across Australia were “suffering” right now.
“What happened yesterday is two police officers murdered in cold blood. They were executed. They’re both under 30. Their lives have been cut short,” he said.
The officers went to the property following a request from NSW Police about former school principal, Nathaniel Train, who had been reported missing on December 4.
Dubbo police are understood to have lodged the request for assistance with their Queensland colleagues, with insiders telling the Telegraph one of Train’s relatives was known to have an intense distrust of police
Train was last seen in Dubbo on December 16, 2021, but was in contact with his family until October 9.
