Key Points
- The Queensland shootout that claimed the lives of two police officers has been declared a terrorist attack.
- Nearly 200 statements provided in an investigation found that the three attackers planned to target the police.
- The trio is believed to have subscribed to a broad Christian belief known as premillennialism, according to police.
The shooting deaths of six people including two Queensland police officers at a rural property two months ago was inspired by "Christian extremist ideology", police said.
after the officers arrived at their Wieambilla property, more than 300km west of Brisbane, on December 12.
Alan Dare was also fatally shot after going to check on the commotion, with the Trains killed in a gunfight with specialist police later that night.
Deputy Police Commissioner Tracy Linford said police don't believe the shootings were random or spontaneous but rather a deliberate and premeditated act of terror inspired by extremist Christian beliefs.
"Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train acted as an autonomous cell and executed a religiously motivated terrorist attack," she told reporters on Thursday.
"What we've been able to glean from that information is that the Train family members subscribe to what we'll call a broad Christian fundamentalist belief system known as premillennialism."
Premillennialists hold an apocalyptic belief that the world will go through a period of calamities before the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Investigators found six guns, three compound bows with arrows and a number of knives at the Train property.
The caskets of Constable Rachel McCrow and Constable Matthew Arnold during the memorial service. Source: AAP / SUPPLIED/PR IMAGE
However, a man with an American accent who called himself Don and posted videos online referring to the Trains before and after the shootings is a person of interest.
The FBI has been provided with information about people in the US who interacted with the trio on social media.
The deputy commissioner said a number of events had pushed the trio towards extreme religious beliefs including Nathaniel Train's heart attack, which was "a profound moment for him and his belief in God".
He and Stacey Train losing their school jobs after refusing to comply with COVID-19 vaccine mandates had also hardened their anti-government views.
Madelyn Train, the biological daughter of Nathaniel and Stacey, has given a number of interviews to insist there had been no warning signs before the fatal shootout.
But she admitted Gareth did hold extreme views and was a military enthusiast.
"It was like he was doing this weird project on COVID and the end of the world but also religiously. He believes in the apocalypse," she said.
Ms Train said she would often try to steer her uncle to other subjects when conversations took a dark turn.
She said she knew Nathaniel owned guns and that Stacey and Gary had a gun safe and carried weapon licences.
"But mum didn't like guns," Ms Train said in the televised interview.
