American Individual Connected to Australian Gunmen Secures Plea Deal with Prosecutors
An American citizen linked with the culprits behind the fatal Wieambilla attack that claimed six lives – among them two Queensland police officers – has accepted a watered-down plea deal.
Resident of Arizona Donald Day Jr. will face court on October 21 after striking the bargain with American authorities.
The individual with prior convictions, referred to online as “Geronimo’s Bones”, is expected to admit guilt to a single charge of illegally owning firearms and ammunition in a arrangement to be approved by the court this month.
Links to Aussie Gunmen
Investigators confirmed direct links between Day and the Train couple through digital communications.
This couple, along with Gareth’s brother Nathaniel, killed officers from Queensland Arnold and McCrow, and neighbour Alan Dare at a isolated location in Wieambilla, Queensland in 2022.
They were killed in a final shootout with law enforcement, following a protracted siege at the regional property.
US prosecutors said Day communicated via social media with the Trains around the time of the deadly ambush.
Day referred to Queensland officers as “malignant, malformed and malevolent”, and declared they should be shown “no mercy whatsoever”, telling the Trains he wanted to be at the scene physically.
Court documents detailed how the couple had uploaded an end-times recording on YouTube after the incident, saying police “came to kill us and we killed them”.
“Failing to stand against these evil forces makes one a coward … We will meet you at home, Don. With love,” the Trains said.
Weapons Stockpile and Court Case
Legal records reveal the defendant accumulated a cache of multiple powerful guns and hundreds of rounds of ammo at a country estate in Heber, AZ, that was equipped with a gun range, weapons 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',” he admitted in the plea deal submitted in court.
Day said he frequently used both the weapons storage and the weapons, and also instructed others on how to use the firearms correctly.
The bargain will result in dismissed counts that pertain to the accused issuing threats to public figures and federal agents.
According to court documents, Day had been banned from possessing guns and arms because of his history of violent crimes.
Day, who has served 24 months in detention, faces a maximum penalty of up to 15 years imprisonment in prison or a penalty of $250,000 (A$381,500), but the plea deal specifies he will be sentenced under the minimum range of the legal sentencing standards.
