US EditionAustralian extremists who killed police officers had a shared delusional disorder, coroner says
The coroner ruled the killings stemmed from a shared psychotic disorder and persecutory delusions rather than terrorism, recommending mental health checks for gun licenses and drone use.
- In Brisbane on Friday, Coroner Terry Ryan found the Train family attackers suffered a shared delusional disorder, and their attack did not meet terrorism law criteria.
- Isolation during the Covid pandemic saw Gareth Train deepen his conspiracy research and engage with online forums, following his intensified beliefs after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre where 35 people were killed.
- The coroner found the Trains had fortified hideouts and 'waited to ambush any police who crossed their boundary,' Mr Ryan said, noting officers faced sustained fire from high‑powered rifles and shotguns and were 'woefully inadequate'.
- Ryan made 10 recommendations, including more drones for risk assessments and mandatory mental-health checks for firearms licences; he called NSW Police's failure to pass four emails to Queensland authorities 'regrettable' and urged an information-sharing review.
- Ryan argued the terrorism law is 'unhelpfully narrow' given modern threats, noting Queensland Police Service described the shooting as a 'religiously motivated terrorist attack' but the coroner did not uphold this, while Queensland's Special Emergency Response Team acted appropriately.
33 Articles
33 Articles
Wieambilla attack was caused by 'shared delusional disorder', cannot be called terrorism: Qld coroner
A Queensland coroner has found the 2022 Wieambilla attack cannot be called an act of terrorism. Two police officers and a neighbour were killed by conspiracy theorists — Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train — at a remote property in rural Queensland almost three years ago. The coroner found all three suffered from a 'shared delusional disorder' in the lead-up to the ambush.
Coroner Finds Police Killers ‘Morally Insane’, Not Terrorists or Christian Extremists
A Queensland coroner has recounted the day two police officers and a neighbour were gunned down in an ambush at a rural property in Wieambilla, near the small country town of Chinchilla, on Dec. 12, 2022. As part of coroner Terry Ryan’s findings it was determined that the three perpetrators—brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train and Gareth’s wife, Stacey, who had previously been married to Nathaniel—were “morally insane” at the time of the shooting…
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