US Man Connected to Aussie Gunmen Strikes Plea Bargain with Prosecutors
A US man linked with the culprits behind the fatal Wieambilla shooting that took the lives of six individuals – among them two Queensland police officers – has accepted a watered-down plea agreement.
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 sole offense of unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition in a arrangement to be sanctioned by the judiciary this month.
Links to Aussie Gunmen
Investigators confirmed direct links between the defendant and the Train couple through digital communications.
The Trains, along with Gareth’s brother Nathaniel, killed officers from Queensland Arnold and McCrow, and neighbour Alan Dare at a remote property in Wieambilla, Queensland in 2022.
The Trains were fatally shot in a final shootout with law enforcement, following a protracted siege at the regional property.
American officials said the accused communicated via online platforms with the perpetrators during the period of the deadly ambush.
Day referred to Queensland police as “malignant, malformed and malevolent”, and declared they should be shown “no mercy whatsoever”, informing them he wanted to be at Wieambilla in person.
Court documents outlined how the couple had uploaded an apocalyptic recording on the video platform after the shootings, stating authorities “attempted to kill us, and we retaliated”.
“If you don’t defend yourself against these devils and demons, you’re a coward … We will meet you at home, Don. With love,” the Trains said.
Weapons Stockpile and Legal Proceedings
Legal records show Day accumulated a cache of nine high-powered firearms and numerous bullets of ammo at a rural property in Heber, Arizona, that was outfitted with a gun range, gun room and sniper’s nest.
“The guns and ammo were stored in the trailer I occupied with S.S., within a space we named the 'gun room',” Day said in the plea deal submitted in the legal system.
He stated he regularly accessed both the gun room and the weapons, and also instructed individuals on how to use the guns correctly.
The plea deal will lead to dismissed counts that relate to the alleged issuing threats to officials and FBI agents.
Based on legal files, the individual had been banned from owning weapons and firearms because of his violent criminal history.
The defendant, who has served two years in detention, faces a highest sentence of up to 15 years in jail or a fine of US$250,000 (A$381,500), but the plea deal stipulates he will be judged under the low end of the legal sentencing standards.
