Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train were not ‘sovereign citizens’, but they shared a deep hatred of police with the Porepunkah suspect Dezi Freeman
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
When the Queensland authorities wanted to understand the motivation of the Wieambilla killers, they turned to Josh Roose.
The political sociologist and associate professor of politics at Deakin University was given access to the killers’ writings, to paint a picture of the process of radicalisation that led Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train to shoot three police officers and a neighbour in cold blood in a 2022 ambush at a remote property about 350km west of Brisbane.
He was one of two experts who later gave evidenceat a coronial inquest into the deaths. Almost one year to the day that the Wieambilla inquest wrapped up, another three police officers were shot at a rural property near the town of Porepunkah in Victoria. Two were killed, and one was wounded and remains in hospital.
