A New Zealand father who evaded authorities with his 3 children for
years is shot dead by the police
[September 08, 2025]
By CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A man who evaded authorities with his
three children in the remote New Zealand countryside for nearly four
years was shot and killed by a police officer Monday, law enforcement
said.
One child was with Tom Phillips at the time of the confrontation and the
other two children were found in the forest hours after the shoot-out,
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 ever have traveled
far from the isolated North Island rural settlement of Marokopa where
they lived, but credible sightings of them were rare.
Phillips has not been formally identified, but authorities believed he
was the man killed.
Police officer was shot and critically injured
A police officer was shot in the head and critically injured during a
confrontation with Phillips after he robbed an agricultural supplies
store early Monday morning, New Zealand’s Acting Deputy Police
Commissioner Jill Rogers told reporters in the city of Hamilton. The
child with Phillips at the time of the robbery was taken into custody.
The officer was undergoing surgery at a hospital. His injuries were
survivable, Rogers said, but he was shot “multiple times with a
high-powered rifle" and further surgeries were expected.
Fugitive's other two children found hours after shoot-out
The whereabouts of Phillips' other two children was unknown immediately
after the shooting and authorities held serious concerns for them,
Rogers said earlier.
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 Monday had
cooperated with the authorities, allowing them to narrow the search
area, she said.
The farm supplies store targeted Monday was in a small town in the same
sprawling farming region of Waikato, south of Auckland, as the
settlement of about 40 people from where the family vanished. The case
has fascinated New Zealanders and the authorities made regular
unsuccessful appeals for information.
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 while on the run in May 2023, accompanied by one of his
children, in which he reportedly shot at a member of the public.
Authorities believed Phillips had help
Phillips did not have legal custody rights for his children, Detective
Senior Sgt. Andrew Saunders told reporters in 2024. Authorities said
they had not had access to formal education or health care since their
disappearance.
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A police officer waits in his car near a hardware store in Piopio in
the Waikato district of New Zealand, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (Ricky
Wilson/Stuff via AP)
Law enforcement always believed that Phillips had help concealing
his family and some residents of the isolated rural area expressed
support for him. A reward of 80,000 New Zealand dollars ($47,000),
large by New Zealand standards was offered for information about the
family's whereabouts last June, but it was never paid.
Family had gone missing before
December 2021 was not the first time Phillips prompted national news
headlines after disappearing 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 eventually ended the search, concluding the family might
have died, before Phillips and the children emerged from dense
forest where he said they had been camping. He was charged with
wasting police resources and was due to appear in court in January
2022, but weeks before the scheduled date he and the children
vanished again.
The police did not immediately launch a search because Phillips, who
is experienced in the outdoors, had told family he was taking the
children on another trip. He never returned.
The search intensified again after several sightings of Phillips in
2023 in the same region where he had vanished. He was last seen on
surveillance video in August this year as he robbed a grocery store
in the night, accompanied by one of his children.
Children's mother issues a statement
The children's mother issued a statement to Radio New Zealand on
Monday in which she said 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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