An American man who spent a year discussing extreme conspiracies with the Queensland family behind the Wieambilla shootings has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Donald Day, 58, was arrested in the US after a year-long investigation into his contact with Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train before the trio killed two police officers and a neighbour at their rural Queensland property in December 2022.
Day was sentenced in the US federal court in Arizona on Thursday after making a deal with prosecutors in October 2025 to plead guilty to a charge of possessing firearms as a convicted felon. He had used the name “Geronimo’s Bones” to exchange comments and videos on YouTube with the Trains between May 2021 and December 2022. Day was mentioned in the last video the Trains made before they were killed in a shootout with police.
The families of the two officers killed, Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, said the decision “marks another traumatic step in what continues to be an exhausting process.” They added: “After time already served, he will likely spend just a few more months in jail – not much considering the life sentences we’ve been given.” Day had spent two years and three months in custody since his arrest by the FBI in Arizona in December 2023.
Day’s prior charges of threatening World Health Organization figures and FBI agents, as well as possessing an illegal shotgun, were dropped by prosecutors. The judge heard that Day had prepared a sniper’s nest for a confrontation with police and told the Trains to do the same with “determination and fury”. However, Day’s lawyer argued that the Trains’ actions were driven by shared psychotic disorders, not communications with his client.
Queensland Police Minister Dan Purdie said the Wieambilla shootings were “one of the darkest days in our state’s history” and that no sentence would atone for the murders. Day will be on supervised release for three years after serving at least 90 per cent of his term and was ordered to forfeit his firearms and ammunition.
