Extremist Christian terrorists kill cops after luring them onto their trap-laden farm: report

Matthew Chapman
February 16, 2023

A militia member with a rifle in an open field (Shutterstock)

An Australian family belonging to an extreme fundamentalist Christian movement murdered police officers in a bizarre terrorism plot — and the movement has a following in the United States as well, reported The Daily Beast on Thursday.

"Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train died in a stand-off after killing constables Rachel McCrow, 29, Matthew Arnold, 26, and their neighbor Alan Dare, 58, on Dec. 12. They were involved in an extreme religion known as 'premillennialism,' Queensland Deputy Police Commissioner Tracy Linford said Thursday, calling the attack on the officers a 'religious terror attack,'" reported Barbie Latza Nadeau. "Linford said the religious group had a connection to a similar group in the U.S., and that officers had shared information found in text messages with the U.S. police."

Premillenialism is an extremist Christian-identifying movement that believes Christ will reign over the earth for a millennium after a period of extreme earthly suffering. Many of its adherents have ties to the "sovereign citizen movement," a largely U.S.-based extremist movement that posits the federal government is fraudulent, or secretly a corporate entity with no authority, and individual citizens hold lawmaking power.

There is no indication that sovereign citizen groups were involved in this attack, although people who knew the Trains say they referred to law enforcement as "monsters and demons," and they held strong anti-government views — Stacey Train once worked as a high school principal but resigned in response to vaccine mandates.

"The incident happened when four police officers, including the two slain officers, were 'lured' to the Train farm, which had been set up with a sophisticated surveillance system and military-grade training facilities including camouflaged hiding places and dirt mound barriers and mirrors strategically placed on trees" noted the report. "They also found six weapons, three bow and arrows, a collection of tactical knives."

After the officers were killed, survivors summoned backup, leading to a confrontation that killed the Trains.