As cops approached to look into complaints of a missing person, they were ambushed, according to officials, who said two Australian police officers and four others were shot and murdered at a rural residence.
According to Australian Police, the fighting started on Monday at around 4:45 p.m. local time when four officers arrived at a secluded property in Queensland.
Authorities reported that at least two individuals fired shots at police officers at the remote Wieambilla location.
Australia was experiencing a “heartbreaking day,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remarked.
Alan Dare, a neighbour who was 58 years old, was slain by the suspects after visiting the residence to look into the matter. Before the three suspects, two men and a woman were shot by specially trained officers, the siege, which featured “several weapons,” lasted for hours, according to the authorities.
One of them was revealed to be 46-year-old Nathaniel Train, a former school principal who was the subject of a police search warrant for a missing individual.
The other co-owners of the home were his brother Gareth Train, 47, and Gareth’s wife Stacey Train, 45.
The attack, according to Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll, was an “unimaginable tragedy” and the largest single fatality for the department in many years.
She stated, following her Tuesday visit to the scene “Those officers did not stand a chance. The fact that two got out alive is a miracle.”
The rookie cop, who was not hurt, was able to locate cover and make an assistance call.
According to Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers, the suspects then attempted to lure her out by starting a fire.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated “terrible scenes in Wieambilla and a heartbreaking day for the families and friends of the Queensland Police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty”.
Port Arthur Massacre
Following the 1996 massacre at Port Arthur, Tasmania, where 35 people were slain by a lone gunman, Australia enacted some of the harshest gun laws in the whole world.
In Australia, a mass shooting is one that leaves at least four people dead, excluding the shooter(s), and there have only been three since then.
The Port Arthur Massacre was a large-scale shooting that took place on April 28 and 29, 1996, in and around Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia. Martin Bryant, the shooter, was eventually given a 35-year prison sentence. It was the greatest mass murder in the nation, and as a result, there are now stronger gun laws, including a virtual prohibition on all fully automatic or semiautomatic weapons.
About Martin Bryant, the shooter
Bryant, who was 28 years old, resided in the Hobart suburb of New Town. He had a history of unpredictable behaviour and intellectual disability after receiving a disability pension as a result of a psychiatric evaluation, he dropped out of school early. He started working as a handyman for lottery heiress Helen Harvey in 1987, and the two quickly grew close. In an automobile accident in 1992 that also seriously injured Bryant, she passed away. Since he was known to grip the wheel when Harvey was driving, some people assumed that he was to blame for the collision. He refuted any misconduct though. Bryant inherited Harvey’s whole estate and amassed money. Bryant started amassing weapons after his father committed suicide in 1993 and travelled far.
