A man who evaded authorities with his three children in the remote New Zealand countryside for nearly four years was shot and killed by a police officer on Monday, according to local police.
One police officer was critically injured in the shootout, with authorities confirming his injuries were “survivable.”
Tom Phillips, who did not have legal custody rights for his children, disappeared with them in 2021.
One child was with Tom Phillips at the time of the confrontation, and police searched for hours to find the remaining two, with concerns over freezing temperatures as night set in.
All three children have now been taken into custody.
The disappearance of Tom Phillips and his children in December 2021 proved challenging for investigators, who for years scoured the densely forested area where it was believed they were hiding.
The family was not believed to have ever travelled far from the isolated North Island rural settlement of Marokopa, where they lived, but credible sightings of them were rare.
Phillips did not have legal custody rights for his children, now about 9, 10 and 11, Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders told reporters in 2024. Authorities said they had not had access to formal education or health care since their disappearance.
Law enforcement always believed that Phillips had help in concealing his family, and some residents of the isolated rural area expressed support for him.
A reward of 80,000 New Zealand dollars (£35,000), which was large by New Zealand’s standards, was offered for information about the family’s whereabouts last June, but it was never paid.
Phillips has not been formally identified, but authorities believe he was the man killed in the confrontation.
December 2021 was not the first time Phillips prompted national news headlines after disappearing with his children. The family went missing that September, launching a three-week land and sea search after Phillips’ truck was found abandoned on a wild beach near where he lived.
Authorities eventually ended the search, concluding the family might have died, before Phillips and the children emerged from the dense forest where he said they had been camping. He was charged with wasting police resources and was due to appear in court in January 2022, but weeks before the scheduled date, he and the children vanished again.
The police did not immediately launch a search because Phillips, who is experienced in the outdoors, had told family he was taking the children on another trip. He never returned.
The search intensified again after several sightings of Phillips in 2023 in the same region where he had vanished. He was last seen on surveillance video in August this year as he robbed a grocery store in the night, accompanied by one of his children.
Whilst one child was with Phillips at the time of the confrontation which led to his death, the whereabouts of his other two children was unknown for many hours after the shooting. New Zealand’s Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers said authorities held serious concerns for them alone in the freezing temperatures.
It wasn’t till much later, police were able to locate the remaining two children, who have now all been taken into custody.
Speaking earlier on Monday she said: “This must come to a conclusion now,” she told reporters more than 12 hours after Phillips was fatally shot, adding that temperatures would fall to freezing in the area within hours.
“We have children that we believe are unaccompanied in the bush and it’s our priority to locate them this evening.”
The child who had been with Phillips was taken into custody on Monday and was cooperating with the authorities, allowing them to narrow the search area, Rogers said.
The farm supplies store targeted on Monday was in a small town in the same sprawling farming region of Waikato, south of Auckland, as the small settlement from where the family vanished.
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.
The children’s mother 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,” said the woman, who has been identified in New Zealand news outlets only by her first name, Cat.
One police officer who was shot during the confrontation with Phillips remains in hospital. New Zealand’s Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers told reporters the police officer was shot in the head and critically injured during the confrontation with Phillips after he robbed an agricultural supplies store early Monday morning.
Police provided first aid, however the gunman died at the scene.
A second person was detained at the scene, where multiple firearms were recovered by police.
The injured officer was airlifted to hospital around 4.50am local time.
Rogers confirmed the officer was undergoing surgery at a hospital. His injuries were survivable, Rogers said, but he was shot “multiple times with a high-powered rifle” and further surgeries were expected.
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