US Man Linked to Aussie Shooters Strikes Plea Deal 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 Queensland police officers – has agreed to a less severe plea deal.
Arizona-based Donald Day Jr will face court on 21 October after finalizing the bargain with US prosecutors.
The convicted felon, known online as “Geronimo's Bones”, is anticipated to plead guilty to a single offense of illegally owning guns and bullets in a deal to be approved by the judiciary in the current month.
Links to Australian Shooters
Investigators established direct links between the defendant and the Train couple through online posts.
This couple, along with Nathaniel Train, murdered officers from Queensland Arnold and McCrow, and neighbor Alan Dare at a remote property in Wieambilla in 2022.
They were fatally shot in a final shootout with law enforcement, following a extended standoff at the rural site.
US prosecutors stated the accused corresponded via online platforms with the perpetrators around the time of the deadly ambush.
He referred to Queensland police as “evil, corrupt, and wicked”, and said they should be shown “absolutely no quarter”, telling the Trains he desired to be at the scene physically.
Legal filings outlined how the couple had uploaded an end-times recording on YouTube after the incident, saying police “came to kill us and we killed them”.
“If you don’t defend yourself against these devils and demons, you’re a coward … We will meet you at home, Don. With love,” the Trains expressed.
Firearms Cache and Legal Proceedings
Legal records show the defendant accumulated a cache of multiple powerful guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition at a rural property in Heber, Arizona, that was outfitted with a shooting range, gun 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',” Day admitted in the plea deal filed in court.
Day said he regularly accessed both the weapons storage and the weapons, and also trained others on how to use the guns correctly.
The bargain will result in charges dropped that pertain to the alleged issuing threats to officials and FBI agents.
According to court documents, Day had been banned from possessing guns and arms because of his violent criminal history.
The defendant, who has served two years in custody, faces a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in jail or a penalty of US$250,000 (A$381,500), but the plea deal specifies he will be sentenced under the low end of the legal sentencing standards.
