US Man Linked to Australian Shooters Strikes Plea Deal with Prosecutors
An American citizen associated with the perpetrators behind the fatal Wieambilla, Australia shooting that took six lives – including two officers from Queensland – has accepted a watered-down plea agreement.
Arizona-based Donald Day Jr will appear in court on 21 October after finalizing the plea deal with US prosecutors.
The convicted felon, known online as “Geronimo's Bones”, is expected to plead guilty to a sole offense of unlawfully possessing guns and bullets in a deal to be sanctioned by the court in the current month.
Links to Australian Shooters
Authorities established direct links between Day and the Train couple through digital communications.
The Trains, along with Nathaniel Train, murdered officers from Queensland Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, and neighbor Alan Dare at a isolated location in Wieambilla, Queensland in 2022.
They were killed in a gun battle with police, following a extended standoff at the regional property.
American officials said Day corresponded via online platforms with the perpetrators during the period of the deadly ambush.
Day described Queensland officers as “malignant, malformed and malevolent”, and said they should be shown “absolutely no quarter”, informing the Trains he desired to be at Wieambilla in person.
Court documents outlined how the couple had posted an end-times video on the video platform after the shootings, saying 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,” the Trains expressed.
Weapons Stockpile and Legal Proceedings
Court documents show the defendant stockpiled a collection of multiple powerful guns and numerous bullets of ammo at a country estate in Heber, Arizona, that was outfitted 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 said in the agreement submitted in court.
Day said he regularly accessed both the gun room and the firearms, and also instructed individuals on how to use the guns properly.
The plea deal will lead to dismissed counts that relate to the accused issuing threats to public figures and federal agents.
Based on court documents, the individual had been prohibited from owning weapons and firearms because of his violent criminal history.
The defendant, who has served two years in custody, faces a highest sentence of up to 15 years in jail or a fine of US$250,000 (A$381,500), but the agreement specifies he will be judged under the minimum range of the sentencing guidelines.
