US Individual Connected to Aussie Shooters Strikes Plea Deal with Prosecutors
A US man linked with the culprits behind the fatal Wieambilla shooting that claimed six lives – among them two officers from Queensland – has accepted a less severe plea deal.
Arizona-based Donald Day Jr. will face court on October 21 after finalizing the plea deal with US prosecutors.
The convicted felon, known online as “Geronimo's Bones”, is expected to plead guilty to a sole charge of unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition in a arrangement to be approved by the judiciary this month.
Links to Australian Shooters
Investigators established direct links between the defendant and the Train couple through digital communications.
The Trains, along with Gareth’s brother Nathaniel, killed Queensland police officers Arnold and McCrow, and neighbor Alan Dare at a isolated location in Wieambilla, Queensland in 2022.
The Trains were killed in a gun battle with police, following a protracted siege at the regional property.
American officials said the accused corresponded via online platforms with the Trains around the time of the deadly ambush.
Day referred to Queensland officers as “evil, corrupt, and wicked”, and said they should be shown “no mercy whatsoever”, informing the Trains he wanted to be at Wieambilla in person.
Court documents detailed how the couple had posted an end-times recording on YouTube after the shootings, saying police “came to kill us and we killed them”.
“Failing to stand against these evil forces makes one a coward … we’ll see you at home, Don. Love you,” they said.
Weapons Stockpile and Legal Proceedings
Legal records show the defendant stockpiled a collection of nine high-powered firearms and numerous bullets of ammunition at a rural property in Heber, Arizona, that was equipped with a gun range, weapons room and sniper’s nest.
“The firearms and ammunition were kept in the mobile home I shared with S.S., in a room we called the ‘gun room’,” he said in the agreement submitted in the legal system.
He said he regularly accessed both the gun room and the weapons, and also instructed others on how to operate the guns properly.
The bargain will result in charges dropped that pertain to the alleged issuing threats to officials and FBI agents.
Based on legal files, Day had been banned from possessing weapons and firearms because of his history of violent crimes.
The defendant, who has completed two years in detention, faces a maximum penalty of up to 15 years imprisonment in jail or a penalty of $250,000 (A$381,500), but the plea deal stipulates he will be sentenced under the low end of the sentencing guidelines.
