Wieambilla Massacre: The Chilling Final Moments of Two Police Officers Shot Dead by a Cult Family – and the Heartbreaking Final Act of Heroic Rachel McCrow, Dying in the Dust after Begging for Her Life

The heartbreaking final act of heroic police officer Rachel McCrow, as she lay dying in the mud of a murderous family’s cult compound, has been revealed.

Constable McCrow was shot dead along with Constable Matt Arnold after they entered the remote compound of the religious extremist Train family in Wieambilla, 300km west of Brisbane.

An inquest has now heard how Mrs McCrow recorded a final “message of love to her family” before she died.

Bodycam footage showed Officer McCrow being shot at 4:37 p.m. on December 12, 2022, moments after Officer Arnold was shot and killed by one of the Train brothers.

The investigation revealed that Officer McCrow immediately got on her hands and knees and pulled out of the driveway to call for emergency assistance over the police radio.

But two camouflaged figures – believed to be Nathaniel and Gareth Train, armed with guns – approached and shot McCrow in the back.

At 4.38pm she was shot again, “in her lower left leg and her upper right leg”, according to Ruth O’Gorman KC, the lawyer who led the investigation.

‘At 4:40 p.m. she recorded being shot three times. At 4:45 p.m. she recorded the shooter approaching her and firing her Glock.

Members of the Train family – brothers Nathaniel and Gareth Train, and his wife Stacey – killed officers Rachel McCrow, 29 (pictured), and Matthew Arnold, 26, when they visited the property on Wains Rd on December 12 last year

Heavily armed police officers shot dead all members of the Train family later that night during a lengthy siege

‘McCrow shot the gunman 15 times and ‘pleaded with the man who approached her,’ but ‘after a brief verbal exchange she was killed at close range.’

Over the course of seven minutes, the court heard the officers “walked into an ambush, in pain and no doubt terrified, showing great courage under fire … and recording important details … and she had the grace to record a message for her family.”

The chilling details of what happened next include footage of a third officer being chased by two of the trains.

The evidence was heard at the Brisbane inquest into the deaths of officers Arnold and McCrow, neighbour Alan Dare and the Trains on the property north of Tara.

Brothers Nathaniel and Gareth Train and his wife Stacey killed officers McCrow, 29, and Arnold, 26, and then Mr Dare, before being shot dead by police.

The month-long investigation began with the details of what started as a routine missing persons inquiry, but turned deadly after four police officers jumped the fence at Trains at 251 Wains Road, Wieambilla at around 4.30pm.

The four officers, including Officer Keely Brough, could be heard chatting in the dirt driveway as they approached the Trains’ home.

Matthew Arnold, 26 (pictured), was also killed in the Wieambilla shooting in December

Just 120 yards from the house, Officer Arnold was shot dead, followed by McCrow.

Officer Randall Kirk was then chased by the gunmen and his bodycam showed him hiding in the grass as two individuals in camouflage clothing chased him.

While under fire, Kirk spoke quietly to police headquarters, telling them that after he shot Arnold and McCrow, a gunman “was still trying to get around me.

“They’ve got huge… weapons. Matt’s not moving. Rachel’s not moving right now. There’s two of them,” Kirk said.

The radio operator replied, “You’ve got to take good care of yourself, mate.”

Kirk replied, “He’s coming. Should I run?”

The radio operator asked, “Do they know where you are?”

Police shot Nathaniel and Stacey Train (pictured at their wedding) along with their brother Gareth in the head within seven minutes of each other

Heavily armed police later that night shot dead all members of the Train family during a lengthy siege (pictured: Gareth Train)

“Yes, they do,” Kirk said. (Shooting is heard.) “They’re coming, they’re shooting.”

Kirk ran over the fence toward the police car, yelling “f***” as he groaned after he too was shot.

As he drove away, panting, and with the trains still shooting at him, he said again: ”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 “there was no cover and the shooters were getting closer and closer”, and that the bodycam captured the shooters saying: “There he is, let’s go.”

“As he ran for his life, nine shots were fired into him … and with a gunshot wound to his hip and shots fired into the windscreen and passenger side panel, Kirk escaped,” Ms O’Gorman said.

He was later taken to hospital, where shrapnel was removed from his left hip.

Meanwhile, the situation was still real for Officer Brough. She was lying in the grass on the property, her police radio not working and she was using her cell phone to call for help.

At 4:49 p.m., a male voice recorded on Officer Arnold’s bodycam said, “There’s another one out there.”

Brough told a radio operator, “I think they know I’m here. I’m scared.”

She said there were two in camouflage suits with guns before they were seen setting fire to the grass in the complex

The wind fanned the fire, which steadily came closer until it was only 3 feet away from her, and she “couldn’t move because they were watching her”

Officer Brough lay in the grass for two hours until a special police team arrived to rescue her and capture the shooters.

At around 5.30pm Alan Dare (pictured) and another man went to the property to investigate the fires that had started

The cold-blooded murder of two police officers and an innocent neighbour in what has been called a religiously motivated terrorist attack was caught on camera, showing the three had no contact with their killers before they were gunned down, a court has been told.

Meanwhile, 58-year-old neighbour Alan Dare, who had gone to investigate, was also shot dead by the trains.

All of the deaths were captured on video: the officers on their colleagues’ body cameras, while Mr. Dare filmed his own death while trying to film the fire.

The investigation found that the specialist police team shot all three Trains in the head: Gareth at 10.32pm, Stacey at 10.36pm and Nathanial at 10.39pm.

The death of the trains was captured by Polair and drone footage.

Ms O’Gorman said no footage of the deaths would be played during the investigation, but warned that footage of the deaths could be upsetting to some.

The investigation is still ongoing.