A fugitive father who had been hiding for years with his three children in the dense New Zealand wilderness is believed to have been shot dead during an armed confrontation with police responding to a break-in, police said today.
An officer was also wounded in the confrontation after being shot in the head, police said.
“The formal identification has yet to take place but we believe him to be Tom Phillips,” Acting Deputy Commissioner Jill Rogers told reporters.
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One of the children was with the man believed to be Phillips at the time and is in police custody.
But the other two children – a boy and a girl – were still missing.
Following a massive and urgent search operation involving helicopters and special tactics police today, police announced the other two children had been found on their own at a remote campsite in the dense bush near the tiny rural town of Marakopa, on the rugged west coast of New Zealand’s Waikato region.
“They are with police officers now, and are being removed from that location,” Acting Deputy Commissioner Jill Rogers told reporters this afternoon.
Thomas Callam Phillips vanished with his children in December 2021, and despite several sightings, appeals for help, and a police search, the family’s location had remained a mystery.
Police believe they were living off-grid, with the father using his survival skills to feed, shelter and clothe his children.
He and one of his children were spotted in camouflage clothing scoping out a store in Piopio late last month in footage released by New Zealand Police.
Early today local time police were called to reports of a break-in at a farming good store in the Poipoi, a town of less than 500 people in the western Waikato district in the North Island of the country, near where Phillips is believed to have been hiding out.
Police were alerted to a four-wheeled farm bike with two people on it leaving the scene on a gravel road and set up road spikes on at a nearby intersection.
“The quad bike has run over the spikes. The two occupants have been on that bike, and it has come to a rest on this rural road. A short time later, the first attending police officer at that scene has come across that stopped quad bike and been confronted by gunfire at close range,” Rogers said.
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The officer was struck in the head and took cover. When another policer arrived at the scene, they shot at Phillips.
“A second person was located at the scene, and multiple firearms were located on and around the quad bike,” said Rogers.
The injured officer has been airlifted to Waikato Hospital and undergo surgery.
Rogers said locating the other two children was a priority.
Tom Phillips sister, Rozzi Phillips, confirmed to CNN affiliate and public broadcaster RNZ that he had been killed.
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Just two weeks ago, law enforcement released CCTV footage of what they believed to be Phillips and one of the children involved in an early morning burglary at convenience store in the same town as today’s shooting.
Last June police offered a reward of 80,000 New Zealand dollars ($71,000) for information leading to their location and safe return.
Phillips’ series of alleged crimes includes the armed robbery of a bank in May 2023, when two people were seen on closed circuit television escaping on a motorbike with cash.
Phillips already faced a range of charges including aggravated robbery, aggravated wounding, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
The children’s mother, known as Cat, said she was “deeply relieved that for our (children) this ordeal has come to an end,” in a statement to CNN affiliate RNZ on Monday morning.
“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
“At the same time, we are saddened by how events unfolded today. Our hope has always been that the children could be returned in a peaceful and safe way for everyone involved.”
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