Footage from a police officer’s body worn camera shows the moment he fled from three shooters who killed two of his colleagues in Queensland's Western Downs in 2022.
Warning: This story contains graphic details and imagery.
Constable Randall Kirk's camera captured his desperate dashacross a field under heavy gunfire to a police car, as gunmen closed in on his hiding spot.
Constable Kirk, 28, attended a remote property in Wieambilla in response to a missing person's report with Constables Rachel McCrow, Matthew Arnold and Keely Brough.
Within minutes of entering the property, Constables Arnold and McCrow were shot dead.
Later, Alan Dare, a neighbour who went to see what was happening, was also shot dead.
On Tuesday, Constable Kirk told an inquest in Brisbane he didn't think he had any other choice but to run.
The shooters — Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train — were later gunned down following a six hour siege with specialist police.
The counsel assisting the coroner, Ruth O'Gorman, relayed to him what could be heard in his body worn footage, after the first shots, which killed Constable Arnold.
The court heard Constable Kirk fled to a nearby tree, before calling his colleague at the Chinchilla Police Station, Sergeant Justin Drier.
"Justin, Justin! He's got guns, he's shot us."
"I am – he's shot Rachel."
"He's got a rifle, he's coming over, f***!"
Ms O'Gorman said more shots can then be heard.
"F***, I think he just killed her. I'm trying, the comms aren't working."
The court heard more shots then rang out.
At this time, Constable McCrow, who was injured, was giving a situational report to her body worn camera.
Ms O'Gorman said Constable Kirk tried to use his radio.
"Urgent urgent urgent. Shots fired."
But there was no reception. He tried again, but the connection failed.
He called Sergeant Drier again, who asked for another situational report.
RK: "I see there is two officers down. I can't see Keely. Rachel is rolling. I don't know what Matthew is doing. I don't know where he's [Gareth's] gone, he's retreated back potentially getting more amo [ammunition] .
JD: Where's Keely mate?
RK: "She's up to the left – oh where Keely is? I'm behind a tree, I can't see [where Keely is]."
JD: "Where's Rachel, can you get eyes on Rachel?"
RK: "Yes, I can see her. She's rolling around."
Body worn vision which was played to the court on Monday showed the moments after Constable Kirk watched one of the shooters, who he believed to be Gareth Train, shoot Constable McCrow in the head at close range.
He estimated Gareth was about 20 to 30 metres away from him.
Constable Kirk fired one shot from his Glock but missed.
"After you fired your Glock, did you become aware or at least did you believe, that one or more of the shooters knew your location?" Ms O'Gorman asked.
"Not my exact location, but [they had a] sort of a rough indication based on his movements," Constable Kirk replied.
He told the court he could see Gareth Train scanning the area — searching for him.
"I remember him [Sergeant Drier] saying that I have to look after myself. Then I asked him, should I run?" Constable Kirk told the court.
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Constable Kirk said he did not think there was another option for him at the time.
Body worn vision shows his desperate dash to reach a police car — approximately 100 metres away.
"There's two of them. I think I've been shot, I don't know where," he said in the vision.
"They got two shots on the front of the window [of the car]. I had to drive away a bit. I lost the shoe. I've got blood on my face; I don't know where I've been shot."
The inquest has also been shown video captured by Mr Dare from when he went to investigate.
The court heard Mr Dare tragically filmed his own death.
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Police system did not trigger flag over missing person report
On Tuesday, the court also heard when the missing person's report was filed in the police system, it was assessed as to require a routine, low-level response.
No serious flags came up in the system when the Train's names were searched, which could have alerted police to potential dangers.
Ethical Standards Command Detective Inspector Suzanne Newton was asked why a flag did not come up on the system, despite Queensland Police having known that Nathaniel crossed the Queensland — New South Wales border illegally, while carrying weapons.
Glenn Ferguson, who is the lawyer for the McCrow and Arnold families, said Nathaniel Train breached the border and was "clearly someone had a significant cache of weapons with at the time, and registered to him".
Mr Ferguson asked whether he was someone police would or should be "very cautious" in dealing with.
Det. Insp. Newton said he did not have a criminal history, he had four registered firearms, but had only taken two with him.
She said it was not known at this time that he had a "heightened anti-vaccination" view.
Det. Insp. Newton confirmed that police knew he had breached the border and disposed of weapons, saying that was the reason for the warrant for Nathaniel's arrest.
Nathaniel and Stacey's son, Aidan Train, who is representing himself in court, asked if a flag in the police's system would have been created if he filed an AVO against Gareth.
"Do you have an opinion if that would have created a flag? If I was to have reported to police that Gareth had threatened me and I was successful in filing an AVO, and disclosing that he had illegal firearms?"
Det. Insp. Newton said if he was successful in obtaining an AVO and alleged he had illegal firearms, it would have created a flag in the system.
Call centre operator says she 'felt helpless' on phone to officer
Katherine Beilby was working at the Toowoomba police communications centre when she received a triple-0 call from Constable Brough, who when the first shots rang out, retreated into nearby bushland.
The court heard yesterday that Constable Brough lay in the same spot — covered by about eight inches of grass — for just over two hours, while the Trains tried to coax her out.
Ms Beilby remained on the phone with the officer.
She was visibly upset when recalling the phone conversation in court on Tuesday.
The court has heard at times, Constable Brough had to whisper when the shooters got closer, because "she thought she was going to die".
Ms Beilby would whisper back to her.
"I remember sitting, and it was like I was at the scene with her. Down low," Ms Beilby said.
Ms O’Gorman previously told the court during the triple-0 call, Constable Brough told Ms Beilby the fires were getting closer to her.
"Initially she reported the flames as being 15 metres away from her. Then as time passed, she reported they were eight metres away, then five metres, three metres, two metres and one," Ms O'Gorman said.
Ms Beilby was asked whether she was getting any advice from her supervisors about how to support Constable Brough.
“I wanted some advice. I felt helpless,” she told the court.
“I said [to my supervisor]… look, this fire is very close to Keely. She can feel it through her shoes, through her feet. What can I tell her?”
“They couldn’t give me anything, any advice.”
Ms Beilby said she told Constable Brough to stay down, and not stand up.
“It was my advice. I had no one there to help me with advice. My feeling was, I didn’t want to put Keely in any more danger and I wanted her to remain where she was,” she said.
Dr Ian Freckleton, the representative for the Queensland Police Commissioner, delivered a message to Ms Beilby on behalf of the commissioner.
“[He’d like to express] his appreciation for your extraordinary calmness, compassion and professionalism that day,” he said.
“Not only did you make a difference, but you may well have saved a life.”
The inquest continues, with neighbour Alan Dare's wife Kerry expected to give evidence on Wednesday.
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