Officers Brough and Kirk were hospitalized. Information on their conditions was not immediately available.
A man who lived nearby, Alan Dare, 58, went to investigate the grass fire and was “shot in the back in cold blood,” Mr. Leavers said.
Two men and a woman who are believed to have shot the officers and Mr. Dare were later killed by the police, officials said. The three were heavily armed, Commissioner Carroll said, adding, “There’s considerable weaponry involved in what took place there.”
Officials did not release the names of the people killed by the police, but Australian news outlets reported that two of them were Mr. Train, the missing former principal, and his brother Gareth Train. A spokesperson for the New South Wales Department of Education said on Tuesday that one of its former employees was among the dead.
According to the New South Wales police, family members in the state had last seen Mr. Train, 46, a year ago, but he maintained contact with them until October. They had “serious concerns” about his welfare after failing to reach him, and they reported him missing on Dec. 4, the police said.
In a post on Twitter on Monday night, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia described the day’s events as “heartbreaking.” He added, “My condolences to all who are grieving tonight — Australia mourns with you.”
Multiple fatal shootings are extremely rare in Australia, which imposed strict gun laws after a mass shooting in Tasmania in 1966, in which 35 people were killed. Twenty-two members of the police force, out of roughly 58,500 sworn officers, were killed between 2010 and 2021, according to research from Bond University in Queensland. Of those 22, five officers were killed by armed offenders.
