Featured Image Credit: DJ MILLS/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Crime, News, World News, Police
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Crime, News, World News, Police
A man who evaded authorities with his three children in the remote New Zealand wilderness for nearly four years has been shot and killed by a police officer.
Tom Phillips disappeared with his children - Ember, nine, Maverick, 10 and Jayda, 12 - back in December 2021 and evaded investigators for years as they searched the densely forested area where they believed the family was hiding.
They were not believed to ever have travelled far from the isolated North Island rural settlement of Marokopa, where they lived, but credible sightings of them were rare.
One child was with Phillips at the time of the confrontation, and the other two children were found in the forest hours after the shootout, in which a police officer was critically injured early on Monday morning (8 September).
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New Zealand’s Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers told reporters that a police officer was shot in the head and critically injured during a confrontation with Phillips after he robbed an agricultural supplies store in the rural area of Waikato, south of Auckland.
The officer, whose injuries are survivable, is undergoing surgery at a hospital, with Rogers explaining that he was shot 'multiple times with a high-powered rifle', adding that further surgeries are expected.
The child with Phillips at the time of the robbery was taken into custody.
The whereabouts of Phillips’ other two children were unknown immediately after the shooting, and authorities held serious concerns for them, Ms Rogers said earlier.
But, about 13 hours after their father was killed, however, Ms Rogers told reporters that the children had been found unaccompanied at a remote bush campsite, adding that they had been 'cooperative' since being discovered.
They are unharmed and have been taken for medical checks, reports New Zealand media outlets.
The child who had earlier been taken into custody on Monday had cooperated with the authorities, giving them information that had helped them locate the siblings, which allowed them to narrow the search area, Rogers explained.
She also thanked the community around Piopio for providing information that supported the police's operations.
"These are small, rural and tight-knit communities. They look after our people and we're very grateful for the support that they've provided this morning," she said in an update.
Police also said they have informed the children's mother, Cat, as well as Phillips' parents, that the children have been found and are safe.
Cat has since issued a statement to Radio New Zealand on Monday in which she said she was 'deeply relieved' that the 'ordeal' for her children had ended.
"They have been dearly missed every day for nearly four years, and we are looking forward to welcoming them home with love and care," she said.
Sightings of Phillips were limited to surveillance footage that showed him allegedly committing crimes in the area. He was wanted for an armed bank robbery while on the run in May 2023, accompanied by one of his children, in which he reportedly shot at a member of the public.
Phillips did not have legal custody rights for his children, Detective Senior Sgt Andrew Saunders told reporters in 2024. Authorities said they had not had access to formal education or healthcare since their disappearance.
Law enforcement always believed that Phillips had help concealing his family and some residents of the isolated rural area expressed support for him.
A reward of NZ $80,000 (£35,000), large by New Zealand standards, was offered for information about the family’s whereabouts last June.