A police officer frantically texted her family goodbye while she was being hunted down by camouflaged gunmen in Queensland, Australia.

Keely Brough, 28 - who became a constable eight weeks ago - was sent to a home in Wieambilla (four hours northwest of Brisbane) on Monday (December 12) in relation to a missing person case, per Sky News.

When she and her colleagues - Randall Kirk, 28, Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 26 - entered the house, they came under heavy gunfire.

Brough fled into some nearby bushes, where she attempted to hide from her attackers. Arnold and McCrow were sadly murdered at the property.

As the gunmen proceeded to hunt her down by setting the shrubbery alight, she texted her family what she thought would be her final goodbye.

Speaking to ABC, Queensland Police Union President Ian Leavers spoke about Brough's actions: "I do know she was sending messages to loved ones saying she almost thought it was her time. What was going through her mind, one cannot comprehend."

Leavers also told SkyNews.com.au that Brough was fleeing for her life after the officers came under a "hail of bullets".

He said: "They immediately fell to the ground and the other two colleagues... were able to retreat and take cover. What I do know then, is these ruthless murderous people then went and executed the two police who were on the ground... in cold blood."

Officers Brough and Kirk remained in constant communication during the ordeal, showcasing that even under intense circumstances they remained professional.

Leavers went on: "When she [Brough] believed her life about to come to an end, she never stopped trying to do the right thing and communicate with her colleagues.

"She tried to do what she possibly could... trying to ensure we could get the support to assist their fallen colleagues at this point in time."

A local police sergeant gathered 15 officers to go into the heavy gunfire to rescue Brough and Kirk. The three gunmen were shot dead at the scene.

Brough had always dreamed of working for Queensland's Police Force and even posted a blog about her fitness so others could keep track of her progress.

Speaking at a press conference, Commissioner Katarina Carroll struggled to hold back tears as she paid her condolences to the two deceased officers, as well as commending Brough and Kirk.

She said: "To think that they survived, let alone then got out to make phone calls and call for assistance was just extraordinary."

Officers Brough and Kirk remain in the hospital, and our thoughts are with the family and friends of officers Arnold and McCrow.

Featured image credit: Mathias Calabotta / Alamy

The father of the two brothers behind the killing of three people in Wieambilla, Australia has spoken out in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Four police constables - Keely Brough, 28, Randall Kirk, 28, Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 26 - were sent to a property four hours northwest of Brisbane on Monday on a missing person case, per Sky News.

The officers were conducting a welfare check on a missing principal from New South Wales - Nathaniel Train. When they entered the house, they came under heavy gunfire from Train, his brother Gareth, and Gareth's wife Stacey.

This resulted in officers Arnold and McCrow sadly losing their lives, while officers Brough and Kirk managed to retreat to nearby bushes.

Brough frantically texted her family goodbye as the attackers began setting the bushes ablaze in an attempt to smoke her out, but she remained in contact with her colleagues throughout the ordeal.

The father of the two brothers - Ronald Train - spoke to A Current Affair, where he revealed that his sons were "obsessed" with guns, and how they both had a relationship with the same woman.

Train revealed that his eldest son Nathaniel had married Stacey, but she later went on to have a relationship with Gareth.

He said: "Gareth was my second son and he was very overpowering, [and] on the Asperger's scale, very difficult to control from a young age and in the end, that relationship that Nathaniel and Stacey had, he just took over."

The father went on to explain that he lost contact with his children more than 20 years ago, but he was aware that they had been obsessed with weapons from a young age, and the brothers would often go hunting together, shooting kangaroos.

"Apparently there was ammunition at the property, a whole stack of weapons," Train said. "Supposedly there was some type of ambush in camouflage and all this type of stuff. That seems to me.... well whether they knew the police were coming in or what. I don't know."

He carried on to say he still has a love for his children and described them as "two boys who have completely lost their way in life."

The tragedy at Wieambilla also took the life of 56-year-old Alan Dare, a neighbor who saw the smoke and rushed to intervene.

Our thoughts go out to all those affected by this tragedy.

Featured image credit: B Christopher / Alamy

An Australian journalist caught in the crossfire during the violent LA riots has broken her silence after being shot by police while covering the chaos live on air.

The reporter shot by cops whilst filming the LA riots has spoken out. Credit: Anadolu / Getty

Lauren Tomasi, a US correspondent for Australia’s 9News, was reporting from downtown Los Angeles on June 8 when a rubber bullet fired by the LAPD struck her in the ankle.

The dramatic moment was broadcast live and captured the journalist crying out and limping off camera.

Watch the moment below:

Video footage showed an officer appearing to take direct aim at Tomasi as she reported from outside the Metropolitan Detention Centre.

Moments earlier, she was describing how the LAPD had moved in on horseback and started shooting rubber bullets at protesters: “After hours of standing off, this situation has now rapidly deteriorated, the LAPD moving in on horseback, firing rubber bullets at protesters, moving them on through the heart of LA.”

Viewers could hear her scream, and one bystander shouted: “You just f****** shot the reporter!”

The reporter has since returned to the air and addressed the incident: “I am okay. My cameraman, Jimmy, and I are both safe. This is just one of the unfortunate realities of reporting on these kind of incidents.

“It has been a really volatile day on the streets of Los Angeles,” she told colleagues, as she panned the camera across a cordoned-off downtown LA. “The city warned that if anyone moves through here, they will be arrested on the spot.”

The incident sparked outrage online, with many accusing the officer of deliberately targeting the journalist.

“He aims right at her,” one viewer posted on X. “No one in between them. No chance of it being a missed shot. A purposeful close-range shot at an unarmed journalist, who was walking away.”

9News issued a statement shortly after: “Lauren Tomasi was struck by a rubber bullet. Lauren and her camera operator are safe and will continue their essential work covering these events.”

The network called the incident “a stark reminder of the inherent dangers journalists can face while reporting from the frontlines of protests."

Australia’s Greens Senator Sarah Hanson‑Young said the shooting was “simply shocking” and “completely unacceptable,” urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to demand answers from the US.

“The first thing he must tell the president is to stop shooting at our journalists,” she said via The Independent. “Freedom of the press is a fundamental pillar of a strong, functioning democracy.”

Hundreds of LA protesters gather to demand an immediate end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace raids. Credit: Mario Tama / Getty

The shooting came amid widespread unrest in Los Angeles following aggressive ICE immigration raids.

Protesters flooded the streets on Friday, torching vehicles, throwing Molotov cocktails, and shutting down parts of the 101 Freeway.

The LAPD responded by deploying “less lethal munitions,” and the National Guard sent in 2,000 troops, with another 500 Marines on standby, per the Daily Mail.

“Media partners, please keep a safe distance from active operations,” officers warned, as tensions flared throughout the Civic Center and LA City Hall, where horseback officers locked in tense standoffs with protest groups.

President Donald Trump lashed out at California Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass, demanding they “apologize to the people of Los Angeles for the absolutely horrible job that they have done.”

“These are not protesters, they are troublemakers and insurrectionists. Remember, NO MASKS!” he added.

Protestors blocked the 101 freeway. Credit: Mario Tama / Getty

While the White House called the military deployment “essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States,” Newsom condemned it as “purposefully inflammatory.”

As the political battle continues, reporters like Tomasi remain on the front lines - risking their safety to document history as it unfolds.

Featured image credit: Anadolu / Getty

Seven people, including four children, have been killed in Osmington, Western Australia, in what is believed to be the country's worst mass shooting since 1996.

At a press briefing, WA police commissioner Chris Dawson said that a “horrific incident” had occurred at a rural property about 20km north of the town of Margaret River, in the state's south west. Police have not officially confirmed the identity of the shooter, they say that he is among the dead and they are not looking for any other suspect.

Katrina Miles, her four children, and her parents Peter and Cynda all died in the incident. Dawson confirmed in the first press briefing that a "male person" connected to the property alerted police to the situation just after 5am.

The father of Katrina Miles' children, Aaron Cockman, has since said that he believed the shooting had been pre-planned. He also said that Mr Miles had struggled in the aftermath of the suicide of one of his sons.

Officers were been called to the outskirts of the property at approximated 5.15am on Friday morning. Upon arrival, they found seven people dead; five of these were inside a building, with two others found outside. Two firearms were also recovered.

The incident is the worst loss of life in a single shooting incident since the Port Arthur massacre of 1996, in which 35 people were killed and 23 injured when a gunman opened fire in the historic Tasmanian town of Port Arthur.

In the wake of the Port Arthur shooting, all Australian states introduced strict gun laws, banning semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic shotguns, as well as introducing more thorough background checks for those wishing to purchase guns. Buyers must also present a "reasonable" justification for wanting to own a gun and protection is not considered one of them.

In the five years before these laws were introduced, there were four shootings in which six or more people were killed. The only similar incident in the 20 years since then occurred in 2014, when a man shot four members of his family in Lockhart, New South Wales, before turning the gun on himself. Suicide gun deaths have also dropped significantly.

As such, the rarity of mass shootings in the country, especially compared to the United States, has seen Australia's gun laws widely heralded as a success and suggested as a model for other countries to follow.

However, in recent years, some states have been accused of watering these laws down, with New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia all coming in for criticism. Gun opponents, including Gun Control Australia, have highlighted the softening of regulations around ownership and allowing unlimited possession of ammunition among their concerns.

A "hero" that shot a gunman was himself shot dead by police in a tragic misunderstanding on Monday (June 21).

Per the HuffPost, gunman Ronald Troyke, 59, had ambushed Arvada Police Officer Gordon Beesley in a Denver suburb on Monday.

Per a timeline and edited video released by police, Officer Beesley had been responding to a report of a suspicious person, when Troyke pulled up next to the cop's patrol car in his truck.

Footage shows Troyke - who police say had previously expressed hatred for cops - running toward Officer Beesley down an alley. Troyke then raised his firearm and fatally shot the officer as two people stood nearby.

"We lost two heroes on June 21st..."

Per police narration of apparent surveillance footage, Troyke then grabbed an AR-15 rifle from his truck, when he was confronted by Johnny Hurley.

Hurley, 40, then fatally shot Troyke with his handgun.

However, when police arrived, Hurley was reportedly holding Troyke's AR-15, and officers mistook him for the slain suspect. An officer then opened fire and killed Hurley - which the footage does not reportedly show.

Police Chief Link Strate has since hailed Hurley as a "hero" who actions "can only be described as decisive, courageous and effective in stopping further loss of life".

Strate added that Hurley's death was "equally tragic" to Beesley’s killing.

The officer who shot Hurley has remained unnamed, but is currently under investigation by a team from Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. The investigation will determine whether or not the officer was justified in using deadly force.

The unnamed officer has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.

In another statement, the Arvada Police Department added: "Finally, it is clear that the suspect bears responsibility for this tragic sequence of events."

Per Reuters, police have also released excerpts from a four-page handwritten manifesto penned by Troyke in which he vowed to kill as many police officers as he could. The manifesto was found in his apartment, and one excerpt reportedly reads:

"I just hope I don’t die without killing any of you pigs."

"We the people were never your enemy, but we are now," another excerpt read.

Forty minutes prior to the shootings, Troyke’s brother called the police and asked officers to check on him, fearing he would "do something crazy". Police have confirmed that both Beesley and another officer called in at Troyke's home near downtown Denver, but were unable to locate him.

Beesley then responded to a call from a teenager reporting a suspicious person.

Hurley's family has since issued a statement on Friday night (June 25), thanks the city and the police for their support. The family adds that they are waiting for the outcome of the investigation.

Speaking to Denver news station KMGH-TV, witness Bill Troyanos spoke about Hurley's actions, saying: "He did not hesitate; he didn’t stand there and think about it. He totally heard the gunfire, went to the door, saw the shooter and immediately ran in that direction."

A GoFundMe has since been set up for Hurley's family, which has raised over $55,000 as of this writing.

Featured image credit: @ArvadaPolice