Heroic cop Rachel McCrow’s heartbreaking final act as she lay dying in the dirt of a killer family’s doomsday cult compound has been revealed.
Constable McCrow was shot and killed with Constable Matt Arnold after they entered the remote property of the religious extremist Train family at Wieambilla, 300km west of Brisbane.
An inquest has now heard how Ms McCrow recorded a final ‘message of love for her family’ before she passed away.
Bodycam video revealed how Constable McCrow was gunned down at 4.37pm on December 12, 2022, moments after Constable Arnold was shot dead by one of the Train brothers.
Constable McCrow had immediately dropped to her hands and knees and moved off the drive to call for urgent assistance on her police radio, the inquest heard.
But two camouflaged figures – believed to be Nathaniel and Gareth Train, armed with rifles – were approaching and shot McCrow in the back.
At 4.38pm she was shot again, ‘in the lower left and in the upper right leg’, Counsel Assisting the inquest, Ruth O’Gorman KC said.
‘At 4.40pm she recorded she had been shot three times. At 4.45pm she recorded that the shooter was coming towards her and discharged her Glock.
Police officers Rachel McCrow, 29 (right) Matthew Arnold, 26 (left), were both killed during the shootings at Wieambilla in December, 2022
Heavily armed police later shot all members of the Train family dead during a lengthy siege later that night
‘McCrow fired 15 times at the shooter and ‘pleaded with the male who approached her’ but ‘after a brief verbal exchange was killed at close range’.
In the space of seven minutes, the inquest heard the officers, ‘ambushed, in pain and no doubt terrified, showed great courage under fire … and recorded important details … and she had the grace to record a message for her family.’
The terrifying details of what happened next included footage of a third officer being pursued by two of the Trains.
Brothers Nathaniel and Gareth Train and his wife Stacey murdered constables McCrow, 29, and Arnold, 26, then Mr Dare before they were shot dead by police.
The month-long inquest opened with details of what began as a routine missing persons inquiry that turned deadly after four police officers jumped over the Trains’ fence at 251 Wains Road, Wieambilla around 4.30pm.
The four officers, who included Constable Keely Brough, could be heard chatting on the dirt driveway as they approached the Trains’ house.
Just 120m from the home, Constable Arnold was shot dead, followed by McCrow.
Constable Randall Kirk was then pursued by the gunmen, and his bodyworn camera revealed him hiding in grass as two persons in camouflage hunted him down.
Speaking quietly with police HQ while under fire, Kirk told them that, after shooting Arnold and McCrow, one shooter ‘is still trying to walk around me.
‘They’ve got massive … guns. Matt’s not moving. Rachel’s not moving now. There’s two of them,’ said Kirk.
The radio operator replied: ‘You have to look after yourself buddy.’
Kirk responded: ‘He’s coming over. Shall I run?’
Radio operator asked: ‘Do they know where you are?’
Police shot Nathaniel and Stacey Train (pictured at their wedding) along with brother Gareth in the head within seven minutes of one another
Heavily armed police later shot all members of the Train family dead during a lengthy siege later that night (pictured, Gareth Train)
‘Yes they do,’ said Kirk. (Shots are exchanged). ‘They’re coming, they’re shooting’.
Kirk ran and made it over the fence to the police car, yelling ‘f***’ while moaning after he too was shot.
Driving away, panting, and the Trains still shooting at him, he again said: ‘‘Oh f*** … two of them, I think I’ve been shot, I’ve got blood on my face.’
Ms O’Gorman told the hearing that ‘with a dearth of cover and the shooters approaching’, the bodycam recorded the shooters saying: ‘There he is – let’s go.’
‘As he ran for his life, nine shots were fired at him … and with a gunshot wound to his hip and shots fired at the front windscreen and the side passenger panel, Kirk escapes,’ said Ms O’Gorman.
He was later taken to hospital and had shrapnel removed from his left hip.
Meanwhile, the situation was still active for Constable Brough, who was lying in grass on the property, her police radio not working, and using her mobile phone to call for assistance.
At 4.49pm, a male voice recorded on Constable Arnold’s bodycam said: ‘There’s one more somewhere’.
Brough told a radio operator: ‘I think they know I’m here. I’m scared.’
She said there were two in camouflage with rifles before spotting they had set fire to the grass in the compound
Wind whipped up the fire which steadily approached until it was just 1m from her, and she ‘could not move because they were watching her’
Constable Brough remained in the grass for two hours until a special police team arrived to rescue her and deal with the shooters.
Around 5.30pm, Alan Dare (pictured) and another man went to the property to investigate the fires that had been started
The cold-blooded murders of two cops and an innocent neighbour in what has been called a religiously-motivated terror attack were captured on camera, showing all three had no interactions with their murderers before being gunned down, a court has been told.
Meanwhile, neighbour Alan Dare, 58, who had gone to investigate the commotion was also shot dead by the Trains.
All the deaths were recorded on video – the officers on their fellow officers’ bodycams, while Mr Dare filmed his own death while trying to video the fire.
The specialised cop team shot all three Trains in the head, Gareth at 10.32pm, Stacey at 10.36pm, and Nathanial at 10.39pm, the inquest heard.
The Trains’ deaths were recorded by Polair and drone footage.
Ms O’Gorman said none of the footage of the deaths would be played during the inquest but warned footage proximate to the deaths could prove upsetting for some.
The inquest continues.
