US Individual Connected to Aussie Shooters Secures Plea Deal with Federal Attorneys
A US man linked with the perpetrators behind the deadly Wieambilla shooting that claimed six lives – including two officers from Queensland – has accepted a less severe plea agreement.
Arizona-based Donald Day Jr will appear in court on October 21 after finalizing the bargain with American authorities.
The convicted felon, referred to online as “Geronimo’s Bones”, is anticipated to plead guilty to a sole offense of unlawfully possessing guns and bullets in a arrangement to be sanctioned by the judiciary this month.
Links to Aussie Gunmen
Investigators confirmed direct links between Day and the Train couple through online posts.
The Trains, along with Nathaniel Train, murdered Queensland police officers Arnold and McCrow, and neighbor Alan Dare at a remote property in Wieambilla, Queensland in 2022.
The Trains were fatally shot in a final shootout with police, following a extended standoff at the rural site.
US prosecutors said Day communicated via social media 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”, telling the Trains he wanted to be at the scene physically.
Court documents outlined how the couple had posted an end-times recording on YouTube after the shootings, stating authorities “came to kill us and we killed them”.
“If you don’t defend yourself against these devils and demons, you’re a coward … we’ll see you at home, Don. Love you,” the Trains said.
Weapons Stockpile and Court Case
Court documents show the defendant accumulated a collection of nine high-powered firearms and numerous bullets of ammunition at a rural property in Heber, AZ, 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 admitted in the agreement submitted in the legal system.
He said he regularly accessed both the weapons storage and the weapons, and also trained individuals on how to use the firearms properly.
The plea deal will lead to charges dropped that pertain to the accused making of threats to officials and FBI agents.
According to legal files, Day had been banned from possessing guns and arms because of his violent criminal history.
The defendant, who has completed two years in custody, faces a highest sentence of up to 15 years in prison or a fine of $250,000 (A$381,500), but the plea deal specifies he will be sentenced under the low end of the legal sentencing standards.
