A horror shooting that killed six people, including two police officers, all sparked from a bitter fallout between two brothers, after one fell in love with the other's wife.
On Monday night (12 December), police officers Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, and a neighbour named Alan Dare were shot dead at a property in Queensland, Australia after stopping by to investigate a missing person case.
The three people behind the shooting were brothers Gareth and Nathaniel Train, and Gareth's wife Stacey Train.
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Relatives have since revealed that the three culprits, who also died during the shootout, had been embroiled in a messy love triangle.
Before she married her husband Gareth, Stacey was married to his brother Nathaniel.
Stacey and Nathaniel married in their late teens in 1995, and had two children together, before she left him to be with his brother Gareth.
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Naturally, Stacey and Gareth's new relationship created a rift among the family, who were heavily conservative and involved in the evangelical church.
Just seven years ago, the couple bought their home in Wieambilla, where this week's shooting took place.
While Gareth worked as a school groundsman in Proston, Stacey had been the principal, but resigned last year due to a Queensland mandate that required all teachers to get vaccinated against Covid-19, former colleagues have claimed.
"She didn’t go around spruiking her thoughts or anything like that, but we knew she had alternative views and was anti-vax, and there was the sense there was ‘big government interference’ and things like that," one colleague shared.
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It was Nathaniel who had been reported missing by family members earlier this month.
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The former principal of a community primary school had last been in contact with his family in October.
Although the Trains have a pretty eccentric backstory, there's no evidence to suggest that their love triangle had anything to do with Monday's shooting.
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Police are still trying to get to the bottom of how the incident started.
Queensland’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, has told the Guardian that police would 'interrogate every part of those people’s lives', even if they had to go back years.
Commissioner Carroll has also shared that Gareth and Stacey held 'a lot of ammunition and weaponry' on their property, stating that the two slain officers 'did not stand a chance.'
Although Commissioner Caroll has not said whether or not she believes police officers had been 'lured' to the property on Monday, the Queensland police union described the shooting as 'a ruthless, calculated and targeted execution of our colleagues.'
Ali Condon