A fugitive father, who had been on the run with his three children since 2021 in the remote New Zealand countryside, was shot and killed by a police officer on Monday, according to local law enforcement.
The wanted man, Tom Phillips, was with one child during the confrontation. The two other children were found in the forest hours after the shootout, in which an officer was critically injured.
The December 2021 disappearance of Phillips and his children — now about 9, 10 and 11 years old — confounded investigators for years as they scoured the densely forested area where they believed the family was hiding. The father and children were not believed to have travelled far from the isolated North Island rural settlement of Marokopa, where they lived, but credible sightings of them were rare.
Police responded to a break-in at an agricultural shop in a tiny rural town, leading to the confrontation with Phillips that left one officer critically injured after being shot in the head, according to New Zealand’s acting deputy police commissioner Jill Rogers.
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The child with Phillips at the time of the robbery was taken into custody.
The officer was undergoing surgery in hospital and his injuries are survivable, Rogers told reporters. She added that the officer was shot “multiple times with a high-powered rifle” and further surgeries are expected.
Rogers said that the location of Phillips’ other two children wasn’t immediately known after the shooting, and that authorities held serious concerns for them.
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About 13 hours after their father was killed, however, Rogers told reporters that the children had been found unaccompanied at a remote campsite in rugged forest. The child taken into custody on Monday had cooperated with the authorities, allowing them to narrow the search area, Rogers said.
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“This is a result of incredible work by Police who had to contend with a high-risk situation and difficult circumstances both earlier this morning and throughout the day,” said police commissioner Richard Chambers. “I want to acknowledge our colleague who was shot and faces a long recovery. I will be arriving back in New Zealand late tonight and travelling to Waikato first thing in the morning.”
The children’s mother issued a statement to Radio New Zealand on Monday, saying 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.
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“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.”
In March, officials announced they would be searching in and around rural communities in the remote Waikato region of New Zealand’s North Island, the area where Phillips and his children were last spotted and were believed to be hiding.
The agricultural supplies store targeted in the robbery was located in the same small town in the farming region of Waikato.
Past 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 in May 2023, also accompanied by one of his children, in which he reportedly shot at a member of the public.
Phillips fled with his children — Ember, Maverick and Jayda — to Waikato just before Christmas in 2021. Phillips, who did not have legal custody of his kids, had reportedly gotten into a fight with the children’s mother shortly before disappearing.
Authorities said the children 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. A reward of 80,000 New Zealand dollars (US$47,000), a large amount by New Zealand standards, was offered for information about the family’s whereabouts last June, but it was never paid to anyone.
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December 2021 was not the first time Phillips prompted national news headlines after vanishing 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 called off the search after concluding the family might have died, before Phillips and his children emerged from the forest where he said they had been camping. He was charged with wasting police resources and was scheduled to appear in court in January 2022, but weeks before the court date, he and the children vanished again.
Police didn’t launch another search immediately because Phillips had claimed he was taking the children on another camping trip.
The search for Phillips and his children began again after several sightings of Phillips were reported.
Last October, the New Zealand Herald reported that teenage pig hunters captured video footage of Phillips and his children, believed to be the first sighting of all three kids at the same time.
The video showed the quartet all dressed in camouflage and carrying large camping backpacks across a patch of rugged farmland.
The children’s mother, who last saw them in 2021, told the Herald she was “relieved” to know they were alive.
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“I’m so happy that they’re all there,” she said, instantly recognizing each child. “I’m so relieved to see all three of my babies. They’re all alive.”
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— With files from Global News and The Associated Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.