Coroner says Australian extremists who killed police officers had shared delusional disorder

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Three Christian extremists shared a delusional disorder when they opened fire on police officers they perceived as “demons intent on killing them” on a rural Australian property three years ago, a coroner found on Friday.

The extremists — brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train and Gareth’s wife, Stacey Train — were among six people killed in a six-hour gunbattle that began on Dec. 12, 2022, in the sparsely populated Wieambilla region west of the Queensland state capital, Brisbane.

The trio killed two police officers, Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, and a neighbor, Alan Dare, who had come to investigate scrub fires the Trains had ignited.

Four police officers had come to Gareth and Stacey Train’s home in response to a missing persons report for Nathaniel Train, who had been a school principal in neighboring New South Wales state.

State Coroner Terry Ryan on Friday accepted psychiatric evidence that the Trains “each had an undiagnosed and untreated psychotic illness. A shared delusional disorder.”

The disorder began with Gareth Train, the older brother. All three believed the world was about to end in accordance with Christian teachings.

“They were psychotically unwell and driven by their persecutory beliefs. I consider that Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel were from the time the Queensland Police Service officers entered their property intent on killing the officers and, if necessary, intent on dying rather than being taken into custody,” Ryan said.

“I accept that while End of Times religious themes became central to their beliefs system, their psychotic disorder was underpinned by broader persecutory beliefs including that the government was evil and that police officers, including the police officers who attended at their property … were demons intent on killing them,” he added.

Ryan had heard medical evidence, during a 17-day inquiry hearing last year, that shared delusional disorders were exceptionally rare.

The coroner rejected a contrary psychiatric opinion that the Trains’ ambush was an act of terrorism as defined by Australian law with the intention of intimidating the Queensland government and police.

Australian law defines a terrorist act as an action or threat made with the intention of advancing a political, religious, or ideological cause to coerce a government or intimidate the public.

“Rather I consider they were acting defensively within their delusional framework to defend themselves and their property from what they regarded was an evil advance on them,” Ryan said.

“The Trains’ beliefs, although wrong, meant they posed an extreme risk of danger to any police officer or other authority figure who might have attended their property,” Ryan added.

The Train brothers opened fire with bolt-action rifles from concealed sniper positions within two minutes of the four police officers stepping on to their property.

Nathaniel Train killed Arnold first, then his brother killed McCrow.

Officer Randal Kirk was wounded as he fled. A fourth officer, Keely Brough, hid in scrub on the property for around two hours before police reinforcements arrived.

The police Glock pistols did not have the range or accuracy of the Trains’ high-powered rifles.

“Once the shooting commenced, the officers’ Glocks were woefully inadequate for the purpose of defending themselves or each other from the attack they faced,” Ryan said.

The coroner said he was not satisfied that wearing armored vests could have prevented the two police officers’ deaths.

He also rejected a submission made by Dare family lawyers that police had caused Alan Dare’s death by failing to advise his wife when she called to report smoke that there were active shooters in the area.

Ryan found “at least some” of the Trains’ weapons had been obtained lawfully under Australia’s relatively tough gun ownership laws.

He recommended the Queensland government consider introducing mandatory mental health assessments for people who apply for gun licenses.

The coroner also recommended police consider using drones to make risk assessments in rural and remote locations like Wieambilla before sending officers in on foot, and that additional funding for the Queensland Fixated Threat Assessment Center that monitors fixated and grievance-fueled individuals.

“It is concerning that the online activities of Gareth Train in the years leading up to Dec. 12, 2022, carried out in plain sight, did not appear to have been monitored or drawn to the attention of law enforcement agencies,” Ryan said.