Sidney, Europe Brief News – At least six people have been killed in a gunfight at a remote home in Australia’s Queensland state.
Two police officers were among the dead, local authorities revealed.
Constables Matthew Arnold, 26 and Rachel McCrow, 29, had called at the property to investigate reports involving a missing person.
But when they approached the entrance, they came under fire from two heavily armed offenders, who were reportedly dressed in camouflage fatigues.
Back-up and air support responded to the ambush, and following a six-hour stand-off, the two suspects, and one other person, were eventually shot dead.
A member of the public – a neighbour who tried to come to the officers’ help – was also killed in the initial attack, and two other police officers were taken to hospital.
According to The Australian newspaper, one suffered a bullet graze to the leg and was able to escape the property to raise the alarm, while the fourth fled into bushes to hide from the gunmen.
The newspaper reported a police source as saying that after the two officers were critically injured, one or both of the gunmen then stood over the pair and shot them “execution style where they lay”.
They said: “A witness reported seeing two people in camouflage stand over them and shoot them again. Then they took their pistols.”
Queensland police has not formally revealed the identities of the offenders, but local media said they were former school principal 46-year-old Nathaniel Train, his brother Gareth Train and an unidentified woman.
