Constable Keeley Brough has been named as one of the officers who survived the horrific shooting. Photo / Keeley Brough / Facebook
Constable Keeley Brough has been named as one of the officers who survived the horrific shooting. Photo / Keeley Brough / Facebook
Fresh insight has been revealed into how a rookie Queensland police officer managed to escape two gunmen after they “executed” her colleagues at a rural property yesterday afternoon.
Constables Rachel McCrow, 26, and Matthew Arnold, 29, were gunned down at the Wieambilla property in the western Darling Downs, about three hours west of Brisbane.
A neighbour, now identified as Alan Dare, was also shot and killed in the attack, which sparked a massive manhunt.
The nightmare situation ended with a gunfight, with Special Operations police shooting dead brothers Nathaniel and Gareth Train, and a woman.
Two surviving police officers have been named as Constables Keeley Brough and Randall Kirk, both aged 28.
The pair managed to evade the gunmen, with Brough reportedly fleeing into the surrounding bush during the terrifying ordeal.
The young officer had only been on the police force for eight weeks.
Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers revealed the gunmen allegedly lit a bushfire to try force the remaining two officers out of hiding before backup arrived.
The four officers came under fire from inside the house as they walked up the property’s driveway to inquire about a missing person about 4.40pm yesterday.
“It all happened very quickly. I’m told as soon as they’d entered the property, they were just inundated with gunfire,” Leavers told ABC’s News Breakfast this morning.
Constables Rachel McCrow, 26, and Matthew Arnold, 29, were gunned down at a property in the western Darling Downs, about three hours west of Brisbane.
He told the programme the officers “never had a chance” and this is “not what you expect” when responding to a call about a missing person.
Leavers claimed the rookie officer“did not know whether she was going to be shot or she was going to be burned alive” as she hid on bushes.
“She was sending messages to loved ones saying she was at a point where she thought it was her time.”
He said one couldn’t “comprehend” what must have been going through Brough’s mind at the time.
“She was in contact with her other colleagues trying to assure them we could get support to go and assist their fallen colleagues,” 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”.
“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 officers 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 be meeting 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’
Two police officers and a civilian were shot at a property in Wieambilla, Western Downs, Queensland on December 12. Picture: Harry Clarke/Country Caller
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.
”Two police officers [were] murdered in cold blood. They were executed. They’re both under 30. Their lives have been cut short,” he said.
The officers had attended the property after a request from NSW Police about former school principal, Nathaniel Train, who
disappeared from Dubbo in the NSW Central West last December, with police and family holding serious concerns for his welfare.
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.
Last week, NSW Police issued an appeal for public assistance to locate Train, 46, who was last seen in Dubbo on December 16, 2021. However, he remained in contact with his family until Sunday October 9, 2022.
He was reported missing to officers from Central North Police District on Sunday, December 4 when family or friends could not contact him.
