American Individual Linked to Aussie Shooters Strikes Plea Bargain with Prosecutors
An American citizen associated with the perpetrators behind the fatal Wieambilla, Australia attack that took the lives of six individuals – among them two officers from Queensland – has agreed to a watered-down plea deal.
Resident of Arizona Donald Day Jr will face court on October 21 after striking the plea deal with American authorities.
The convicted felon, known online as “Geronimo’s Bones”, is expected to plead guilty to a single offense of unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition in a arrangement to be approved by the judiciary in the current month.
Links to Australian Shooters
Investigators confirmed direct links between Day and Gareth and Stacey Train through online posts.
This couple, along with Nathaniel Train, murdered officers from Queensland Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, and neighbor Alan Dare at a remote property in Wieambilla, Queensland in 2022.
The Trains were fatally shot in a gun battle with police, following a extended standoff at the rural site.
American officials stated the accused corresponded via social media with the Trains around the time of the deadly ambush.
He referred to Queensland police as “malignant, malformed and malevolent”, and declared they should be shown “absolutely no quarter”, telling the Trains he wanted to be at the scene in person.
Legal filings detailed how Gareth and Stacey Train had uploaded an end-times video on the video platform after the shootings, stating authorities “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 expressed.
Firearms Cache and Court Case
Court documents show Day stockpiled a collection of multiple powerful guns and numerous bullets of ammunition at a rural property in Heber, Arizona, that was outfitted with a shooting 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 admitted in the agreement filed in the legal system.
He said he regularly accessed both the gun room and the firearms, and also instructed individuals on how to use the guns correctly.
The bargain will lead to dismissed counts that pertain to the alleged making of threats to officials and federal agents.
Based on legal files, the individual had been prohibited from owning weapons and firearms because of his violent criminal history.
Day, who has completed 24 months in detention, faces a maximum penalty of up to 15 years imprisonment in jail or a penalty of US$250,000 (A$381,500), but the agreement stipulates he will be sentenced under the minimum range of the sentencing guidelines.
