2 weeks ago
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A US man linked to those behind the deadly Wieambilla attack that left six people dead – including two Queensland police officers – has agreed to a watered-down plea deal.
Arizona-based Donald Day Jr will face court on 21 October after striking the plea deal with US prosecutors.
The convicted felon, known online as “Geronimo’s Bones”, is expected to plead guilty to a single charge of unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition in a deal to be sanctioned by the court this month.
Investigators established direct links between Day with Gareth and Stacey Train, through online posts.
The Trains, along with Gareth’s brother Nathaniel, murdered Queensland police officers Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, and neighbour Alan Dare at a remote property in Wieambilla in 2022.
The Trains were killed in a final shootout with police, after a protracted siege at the regional property.
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US prosecutors said Day corresponded via social media with the Trains around the time of the deadly ambush.
Day described Queensland police as “malignant, malformed and malevolent”, and said they should be shown “absolutely no quarter”, telling the Trains he wanted to be at Wieambilla in person.
Court documents detailed how Gareth and Stacey Train had posted an apocalyptic video on YouTube after the shootings, saying authorities “came to kill us and we killed them”.
“If you don’t defend yourself against these devils and demons, you’re a coward … we’ll see you at home, Don. Love you,” the Trains said.
Court documents show Day stockpiled a cache of nine high-powered firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition at a rural property in Heber, Arizona, that was equipped with a gun range, gun room and sniper hide.
“The firearms and ammunition were kept in the mobile home I shared with S.S., in a room we called the ‘gun room’,” Day said in the plea deal filed in court.
Day said he regularly accessed both the gun room and the weapons, and also instructed others on how to use the firearms correctly.
The plea deal will result in charges dropped that relate to the alleged making of threats to public figures and FBI agents.
According to court documents, Day had been prohibited from possessing weapons and firearms because of his violent criminal history.
Day, who has served two years in custody, faces a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison or a fine of US$250,000 (A$381,500), but the plea deal stipulates he will be sentenced under the low end of the sentencing guidelines.
