Police searched for almost four years for Tom Phillips who fled with his three children Ember, Maverick, and Jayda. Photo \/ New Zealand Herald composite<\/p>\n
Around 3.20am, road spikes were deployed at the corner of Waipuna Rd and Te Anga Rd, which leads to the tiny settlement of Marokopa where Phillips is from.<\/p>\n
The tyre-piercing spikes made the getaway vehicle inoperable. Rogers said the man believed to be Phillips then opened fire on the first police officer on the scene of the incapacitated bike.<\/p>\n
The officer was struck in the head multiple times, critically injuring him. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s immediately fallen to the ground and taken cover,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSoon after, a second patrol unit arrived and engaged the offender, and he has died at the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police assistant commissioner Jill Rogers detailed today Tom Phillips’ last moments. Photo \/ New Zealand Herald composite<\/p>\n
A formal identification process of the body is now under way, but Rogers has stated they believe the man is Phillips and say this morning\u2019s events are \u201cdevastating news for Tom Phillips\u2019 family\u201d. Phillips\u2019 sister Rozzi earlier confirmed to media her brother was dead.<\/p>\n
The early morning gunfire brought to the end a saga where Phillips \u2013 as well as being wanted for taking his children \u2013 was wanted by police for an alleged bank robbery and discharging a firearm towards a supermarket worker, and multiple break-ins of rural Waikato businesses.<\/p>\n
How it all began<\/p>\n
Phillips vanished with his three children just weeks before Christmas 2021.<\/p>\n
It was the second time the fugitive father \u2013 who had a warrant out for his arrest – had fled with his kids, sparking a search for the quartet.<\/p>\n
Police in December 2023 said they believed Phillips was armed.<\/a><\/p>\n Phillips and his three children first came to national prominence on September 11, 2021, after his ute was discovered in the surf at Kiritehere Beach \u2013 about 10km south of Marokopa.<\/p>\n A major land and sea search and rescue operation was launched, with jet skis and inflatable boats scouring the water in the area \u2013 backed up by aerial searches from helicopters and light planes \u2013 in case they had been swept out to sea.<\/p>\n A land search \u2013 operated out of the Marokopa Hall \u2013 featured specialist teams and volunteers on foot, along with heat-detecting drones and helicopters.<\/p>\n The quartet reappeared 19 days after their disappearance, returning to the Phillips\u2019 family farm, where the runaway dad told a family member they had been living in a tent in the bush, and he had needed time out to think.<\/p>\n Phillips was later charged with wasting police resources.<\/p>\n But on December 9, 2021, a month before a scheduled court appearance, he again vanished with his three children.<\/p>\n His second vanishing act saw a $10,000 reward offered by some relatives of the three missing children for any information leading to their safe return.<\/p>\n There were repeated calls from police and local mayor Max Baxter for Phillips to hand them over.<\/p>\n In June 2024, police themselves offered an $80,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of Jayda, Ember and Maverick.<\/p>\n Marokopa: The idyllic seaside community thrust into the national spotlight<\/p>\n Marokopa \u2013 located on the western Waikato coastline – has a permanent population of around 50.<\/p>\n The tiny seaside community is located at the end of Marokopa Rd, a windy stretch of tarmac about an hour\u2019s drive east from the Waitomo Caves.<\/p>\n For much of its distance, the narrow road is carved through lush native bush.<\/p>\n The few places where you can stop safely off the side of the route are gravel public car parks located near popular walking tracks; including to a waterfall and a cave network.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a great spot for fishing; both casting off the beach or for taking a boat out into the surf.<\/p>\n Locals also love the area for its tranquillity; some have chosen it for a place to retire at; others commute daily to work on nearby farms or in Waitomo or Te K\u016biti.<\/p>\n The common denominator of many who live in Marokopa is its tranquillity; a peace that has been broken so many times in the hunt for Phillips by aerial sweeps by the police Eagle helicopter.<\/p>\n Previously sedate traffic on Marokopa Rd has also been sporadically boosted by marked and unmarked police cars during a series of searches in the area.<\/p>\n The normal silence around the seaside community\u2019s atmosphere was matched by many locals when approached for comment by the Herald during Phillip\u2019s time on the run.<\/p>\n \u201cGo away\u201d was an often-repeated response.<\/p>\n Some who did agree to talk wouldn\u2019t be named partly for fear of reprisals from those who supported Phillips.<\/p>\n One of those said during a visit to the settlement in December 2022: \u201cWe don\u2019t really care about him and what happens to him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we do care about is the health and wellbeing of those three children. Apart from their dad, they\u2019ve been stripped of precious family time, including from their mother, for almost two years.\u201d<\/p>\n Locals spoke of the many caves Phillips could be hiding in; underground networks which could help him avoid being picked up by heat-seeking sensors deployed during police helicopter flyovers.<\/p>\n Others were insistent the dad was being helped to avoid capture and could be staying in any number of local huts or remote farmhouses.<\/p>\n Former Waikato mayor Mark Amonn was among the minority, comfortable putting his face and name to an appeal for Phillips to hand himself in.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the sake of your kids, turn yourself in,\u201d Amonn told the Herald while he was out dog walking near the Marokopa sand dunes.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has to forget about the consequences of being caught. He has to do it now before something more serious happens.<\/p>\n \u201cI do feel for the kids, a lot. All they\u2019ve got at the moment is each other. They\u2019ve been out of education for two years.\u201d<\/p>\n How did Tom Phillips evade capture for so long?<\/p>\n During the near four-year period Phillips was on the run, police have faced ongoing scrutiny about how hard they were trying to find him.<\/p>\n There have also been repeated calls for elite military unit the SAS be brought in to try and track him; calls that were again made last week after police said they suspected him responsible for the early-morning break-in of the Piopio Superette.<\/p>\n But consistently throughout the hunt for the runaway dad, police, some locals and a private investigator who carried out his own independent search for Phillips believed he received significant help to avoid detection.<\/p>\n Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders has previously made it clear police believed he was being helped.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile Tom is experienced in the bush, we believe there are people helping him, and we urge those people to give us any information which may help locate Tom and the children.<\/p>\n \u201cThe children have other family members who are desperate to see them.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we appreciate there are certain loyalties held by people in small communities, this is not the time to keep them.\u201d<\/p>\n So too did Wellington-based private investigator Chris Budge who told the Herald in late 2022 that given the crimes he linked to Phillips \u2013 including thefts from farms \u2013 that with the help of others, he had been almost hiding in plain sight.<\/p>\n He believed he and the children were on one of many farms in the region, where Phillips might be working as a farmhand and living in a \u201ccocky\u2019s house or a shepherd\u2019s building … he\u2019s living probably a reasonably limited lifestyle\u201d.<\/p>\n Budge said he had also been told Phillips had been seen on land owned by a well-known drug grower in the southern Waikato area.<\/p>\n Information gathered by Budge suggested someone who knew Phillips well might have known where he was hiding out when he first vanished with the kids in September 2021.<\/p>\n Stories had also circulated in the community that the same person had purchased a \u201cboot load of groceries\u201d in Taumarunui which were dropped off somewhere else, presumably to Phillips.<\/p>\n Not everyone Phillips has encountered has tried to help him.<\/p>\n That includes some who gave chase in August 2022 after he was spotted driving a ute near Kawhia that had previously been reported stolen.<\/p>\n Police said at the time locals recognised him and gave chase. But Phillips managed to get away.<\/p>\n Throughout the search, police made repeated calls for those who knew where he was hiding to tell them.<\/p>\n They also urged Phillips to hand the children over and give himself up. The most recent being after the dairy burglary last week.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s shootout: Police endured a \u2018confronting and challenging event\u2019<\/p>\n The net finally closed on Phillips in the early hours of this morning.<\/p>\n At around 2.30am police were called by a member of the public to a burglary at PGG Wrightson\u2019s Piopio yard.<\/p>\n The caller told police they had seen two people wearing head torches: a male also wearing farm gear and a \u201cshorter person\u201d.<\/p>\n They matched the descriptions given to previous burglaries Phillips has been linked to. They loaded items on to a quad bike and then fled.<\/p>\n \u201cBased on the descriptions involved, police believed the man was likely to be Tom Phillips, resulting in additional staff, and the police Eagle helicopter, being deployed,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n Road spikes were laid at the intersection of Te Anga and Waipuna Rds around 3.20am.<\/p>\n \u201cSeveral minutes later, the quad bike ran over the spikes and came to a stop shortly after,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n A police car \u2013 containing a sole officer \u2013 was soon on the scene.<\/p>\n He was shot in the head and shoulder as he got out of the vehicle.<\/p>\n \u201cA second police unit was immediately on the scene, police fired at the armed man, incapacitating him,\u201d Rogers explained.<\/p>\n Phillips died at the scene as police tried to give first aid.<\/p>\n Also found at the scene was one of Phillips\u2019 children, with \u201cmultiple firearms\u201d being found \u201con and around the quad bike\u201d.<\/p>\n This morning, Rogers said the search for Phillips\u2019 remaining two children was ongoing, saying police held \u201cserious concerns\u201d for them.<\/p>\n Thankfully, shortly after 5.50pm, she confirmed the kids had been found at a remote camp site.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing the incident, we have been in contact with Phillips\u2019 family and we will be working to provide them with all available support,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are also providing support to our staff member who was injured, and other staff at the scene.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been a confronting and challenging event for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Children\u2019s mother says the trio have \u2018endured a long and difficult journey\u2019 <\/p>\n As police prepared to front the media in this morning\u2019s initial press conference in Hamilton, the mother of the three children revealed her relief that one of her trio had been found.<\/p>\n In a press release issued to RNZ, Cat said she was \u201cdeeply relieved\u201d that the \u201cordeal\u201d<\/a> had children had endured had \u201ccome to an end\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have been dearly missed every day for nearly four years, and we are looking forward to welcoming them home with love and care.\u201d<\/p>\n Cat said she was \u201csaddened by how events unfolded today\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOur hope has always been that the children could be returned in a peaceful and safe way for everyone involved,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe express our deepest aroha to the police officer who was injured in the line of duty.\u201d<\/p>\n Previously, in an interview with the Herald, she had described Phillips as a \u201ccriminal\u201d.<\/p>\n She said her children were being used \u201cas pawns in his game\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t have to be worrying about where they\u2019re going to sleep that night or whether they\u2019re going to be warm,\u201d Cat told the Herald last October.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like every day [I\u2019m] grieving … the loss of three childhoods, the loss of innocence, the loss of my babies, they deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n In her statement issued shortly before 11am, Cat said family of the missing children extended their \u201caroha to those in the community who have been affected\u201d.<\/p>\n She also expressed her \u201cheartfelt gratitude\u201d to those who had supported her and other family members during the children\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n \u201cYour compassion has sustained us.\u201d<\/p>\n Cat said the priority was now the \u201csafe return and reconnection of our tamariki\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have endured a long and difficult journey, and we ask for privacy as we help them adjust and reintegrate into a stable and loving environment.\u201d<\/p>\nTom Phillips and his three children first came to national attention when they disappeared in September 2021. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
The initial search for Tom Phillips included fears he and his children had been swept out to sea. Photo \/ Neil Reid<\/p>\n
At one stage, family members of Tom Phillips’ missing put up a $10,000 reward for information that led to their safe return. Photo \/ New Zealand Herald composite<\/p>\n
Fugitive father Tom Phillips vanished with his three young children from the settlement of Marokopa. Photo \/ Neil Reid<\/p>\n
Some locals believe Tom Phillips could have spent time hiding out with his three children in some of the many caves in the wider Marokopa area. Photo \/ Neil Reid<\/p>\n
The area where Tom Phillips vanished with his three children is remote and full of bush clad hiding spots. Photo \/ Neil Reid<\/p>\n
Former Waitomo mayor and Marokopa resident Mark Amonn had urged Tom Phillips to bring back his children and give himself up. Photo \/ Neil Reid<\/p>\n
Police investigating a retail burglary in rural Waikato released CTV footage of who they believe to be Marokopa father Tom Phillips and one of his children. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Private investigator Chris Budge volunteered his own time to try and find Tom Phillips’ children. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
A roadblock is in place on Te Anga Rd, between Waitomo and Marokopa near where Tom Phillips was shot. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
Fugitive dad Tom Phillips and his three children were spotted tramping in the Marokopa bush almost a year ago. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Cat (right), the mother of the Phillips siblings has issued a statement after today’s tragic events. Photo \/ New Zealand Herald composite<\/p>\n