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Thomas Callam Phillips and his children were officially reported as missing by family members in December 2021. (New Zealand Police via CNN Newsource)
By Todd Symons, CNN
(CNN) — A fugitive father who had been hiding with his three children in the dense New Zealand wilderness was shot dead in an armed confrontation with police on Monday, leading to his three children being placed in the state care, ending a near four-year search for the family.
Thomas Phillips and his children – Jayda, 12, Maverick, 10 and Ember, 9 –had been evading police in a remote part of the country’s North Island since December 2021, triggering a manhunt that gripped the nation.
Phillips’ time on the run ended in the early hours of Monday when police responded to a break-in at a farm shop in a tiny rural town and gave chase.
A police officer was wounded in the confrontation after being shot in the head at close range with a high-powered rifle, police said.
The eldest of the children was found with Phillips at the time, police confirmed.
Following a massive and urgent search operation involving helicopters, the other children were located, later Monday, at a remote campsite in the dense bush near the tiny rural town of Marokopa, 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 Monday afternoon.
“I can confirm that the children are well and uninjured, and they will be taken to a location this evening for medical checks,” Rogers said.
On Wednesday, police released photographs showing a makeshift shelter hidden in the bush. Farm bikes, a tent, sleeping bags, cooking equipment and various other supplies – including cans of lemonade – can be seen in the pictures.
Police also found a gun there.
“(It’s) not very nice … it’s not a camping trip for a couple of nights, so it’s very dirty, you know, cramped conditions,” said Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders on Wednesday.
Police said they had been staying at the campsite for months, but that it was just one of various placed the family might had been staying over the years.
And police believe he may have had assistance from other people.
“It is apparent that he had outside help,” Saunders said.
Phillips first vanished with his children in September 2021, kicking off a huge search of land and sea.
They reappeared at a nearby farm belonging to Phillips’ family weeks later. But after Phillips was charged with wasting police time, he and the children vanished again in December that year.
Police believe they were living off-grid, with the father using his survival skills to feed, shelter and clothe his children, but despite several sightings, appeals for help, and a police search, the family’s location had remained a mystery. Each new sighting made global headlines.
Early Monday local time police were called to reports of a break-in at a farming goods store in the Piopio, a town of less than 500 people in the western Waikato region near where Phillips is believed to have been hiding out.
A four-wheeled farm bike with two people on it was spotted leaving the town on a gravel road and police gave chase. Road spikes were set up near at an intersection about 30 kilometers down the road.
“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.
The officer was getting out of his police car when he was struck in the head and subsequently took cover in the car. Another police officer arrived at the scene seconds later and shot at the man believed to be Phillips.
While formal identification has yet to taken place, Rogers told reporters Monday: “We believe him to be Tom Phillips.”
His sister, Rozzi Phillips, confirmed to CNN affiliate and public broadcaster RNZ that he had been killed.
Rogers confirmed one of the missing children, thought to be the other person on the farm bike, was located at the scene.
Three firearms were located on and around the quad bike while the wounded officer has been airlifted to Waikato Hospital to undergo surgery.
Rogers said the officer had “significant injuries” to his head and neck, but that police had been informed they were “survivable.”
Frantic search for the children
Police had repeatedly voiced their serious concerns for the children Jayda, Maverick and Ember who’ve had no contact with their mother since December 2021.
Now they have been found, they have been placed with Oranga Tamariki, the state agency that cares for children.
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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.”
Just two weeks ago, law enforcement released security camera footage of what they believed to be Phillips and one of the children involved in an early morning break-in at a convenience store in the same town as Monday’s shooting.
Last June police offered a reward of 80,000 New Zealand dollars ($52,000) 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 a security camera escaping on a motorbike with cash.
Phillips already faced a range of charges including aggravated robbery, aggravated wounding, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
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