Man shot dead 4 years after vanishing with children in wilderness | World | News

A man who evaded police with his three children in remote New Zealand bushland for nearly four years was shot dead by an officer on Monday, authorities said. One child was with Tom Phillips during the clash, but two others remained missing hours after the shootout, in which a police officer was critically injured.

The December 2021 disappearance of Phillips and his children — now aged about nine, 10 and 11 — baffled investigators for years as they combed the thickly forested region they believed the family was sheltering in. They were thought never to have strayed far from Marokopa, their isolated North Island settlement, though credible sightings were scarce. Phillips has not been formally identified, but police believe he was the man killed.

A police officer was shot in the head and left critically wounded after confronting Phillips, who had robbed a rural supplies shop early Monday, Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers told reporters in Hamilton. The child with Phillips at the time was taken into custody.

The officer was undergoing surgery in hospital. His wounds were survivable, Rogers said, though he was struck “multiple times with a high-powered rifle” and required further operations.

Phillips’ two other children were unaccounted for and police held grave concerns, Rogers said.

Ms Rogers said, speaking earlier, said: “This must be brought to a conclusion now. We have children believed to be alone in the bush and locating them is our priority tonight.”

The child in custody was cooperating with police, helping to narrow the search area, Rogers said.

The farm shop raided Monday was in the same Waikato farming district, south of Auckland, as Marokopa, the 40-person community where the family vanished. The saga gripped New Zealand, with repeated appeals for information proving fruitless.

Sightings of Phillips were mostly limited to surveillance footage showing alleged crimes. He was wanted for an armed bank raid in May 2023, when he reportedly shot at a civilian while accompanied by a child.

Phillips did not have custody rights, Detective Senior Sgt Andrew Saunders told reporters in 2024. The children were believed to have had no formal schooling or medical care since vanishing.

Police suspected Phillips received help concealing his family, and some locals voiced support. A reward of NZ$80,000 (£37,000), unusually high for New Zealand, was offered last June for information, but went unclaimed.

December 2021 was not the first time Phillips disappeared with his children. They went missing in September that year, sparking a three-week land and sea search after his truck was abandoned on a wild beach nearby.

That search was called off, with police suspecting the family dead, before Phillips and the children emerged from bushland claiming they had been camping.

He was charged with wasting police resources and due in court in January 2022, but weeks before the hearing he and the children vanished again.

Police did not initially search, as Phillips, experienced in the outdoors, told relatives he was taking the children camping. He never returned.

The search ramped up after sightings in 2023 in the same area. He was last caught on video in August this year, robbing a grocery store at night with a child at his side.

The children’s mother told Radio New Zealand on Monday she was “deeply relieved” the ordeal had ended.

The woman, identified only as Cat in New Zealand media, said: “They have been dearly missed every day for nearly four years, and we look forward to welcoming them home with love and care.”