Man who absconded along with his three kids in 2021 shot lifeless after firing on police, authorities say.
Printed On 8 Sep 2025
A New Zealand father who absconded along with his three kids after a dispute along with his ex-partner almost 4 years in the past has been killed by police, authorities have mentioned.
Tom Phillips, who had been on the run within the New Zealand wilderness along with his kids since December 2021, was shot lifeless after he was confronted by police following a housebreaking within the rural city of Piopio, police mentioned on Monday.
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Phillips, who had been concerned in a dispute over custody of the kids, was killed after he fired “a number of photographs” on the first responding officer on the scene, inflicting him critical accidents, police mentioned.
Performing Deputy Commissioner Jill Rogers mentioned Philips, who had but to be formally recognized, was accompanied by one in every of his kids, who was not injured within the incident.
Rogers mentioned authorities had been urgently looking for to find his two different kids.
“Following the incident, we have now been in touch with Phillips’s household and we can be working to offer them with all obtainable assist,” Rogers mentioned.
In an announcement to Radio New Zealand, the kids’s mom, Cat, mentioned she was “deeply relieved” for her kids.
“They’ve been dearly missed each day for almost 4 years, and we’re wanting ahead to welcoming them house with love and care,” she mentioned.
Philips’s disappearance from the distant neighborhood of Marokop along with his three kids – now aged 12, 10 and 9 – gripped New Zealand and generated international headlines.
Regardless of plenty of sightings over time and appeals by his household, Philips, who was going through prison fees together with aggravated theft and illegal possession of a firearm, managed to repeatedly frustrate efforts by authorities to pinpoint his whereabouts.
Authorities had introduced the latest sighting of Philips lower than two weeks in the past, releasing safety digicam footage showing to indicate him and one in every of his kids breaking right into a rural retailer.
