Father of New Zealand in the race of almost 4 years with their children killed by the police, the authorities say

Wellington, New Zealand – A man who evaded the authorities with his three children in the remote countryside in New Zealand for almost four years was shot dead by a police officer on Monday, police said.

A child was with Tom Phillips at the time of confrontation and the other two children were found in the forest hours after the shooting, in which an officer was seriously injured.

The disappearance of Phillips and his children in December 2021, now about 9, 10 and 11 years old, confused the researchers for years while they traveled the densely forestry area where they believed that the family was hiding. It was not believed that the father and children had traveled away from the isolated rural settlement of Marokopa of the North Island, where they lived, and their credible sightings were rare.

Phillips has not been formally identified, but the authorities believe that he was the murdered man.

A police officer was shot in the head and critically wounded during a confrontation with Phillips after stealing an agricultural supplies store on Monday morning, journalists told journalists the interim police commissioner of New Zealand, Jill Rogers, to journalists from the city of Hamilton. The child with Phillips at the time of theft was arrested.

The officer underwent surgery in a hospital. Rogers said his wounds were survible, but he was shot “several times with a high -power rifle” and additional surgeries were expected.

The whereabouts of the other two children of Phillips was unknown immediately after the shooting and the authorities had serious concerns for them, Rogers said before.

However, approximately 13 hours after his father was killed, Rogers told journalists that the children had been found not accompanied in a remote camp in a resistant forest. The boy arrested on Monday had cooperated with the authorities, allowing them to reduce the search area, he said.

The agricultural supply store directed on Monday was in a small city in the same extensive agricultural region of Waikato, south of Auckland, since the settlement of about 40 people in the family had disappeared.

Tom Phillips Saga captivated in New Zealand

The case has fascinated the New Zealandes and the authorities made regular appeals without success of information.

Phillips sightings were limited to surveillance images That was allegedly committed by committing crimes in the area. He was wanted for a robbery of an armed bank in May 2023, accompanied by one of his children, in which, according to the reports, he shot a public member.

Phillips had no legal custody rights for his children, detective sergeant. Andrew Saunders told reporters in 2024. When Phillips and the children disappeared, the police said he was in a custody battle. The authorities have said that children had not had access to formal education or medical care since their disappearance.

Police always believed that Phillips helped hide his family, and some residents of the isolated rural area expressed his support for him. A reward of $ 80,000 in New Zealand ($ 47,000) was offered, large for the New Zealand standards, to obtain information about the family whereabouts last June, but it was never paid.

December 2021 was not the first time that Phillips caused the headlines of National News after disappearing with their children. The family disappeared that September, throwing a land and sea search three weeks after the Phillips truck was found abandoned on a wild beach near where it lived.

The authorities finally ended the search, concluding that the family could have died, before Phillips and the children left a dense forest, where he said they had been camping. He was accused of wasting police resources and had to appear before the court in January 2022, but weeks before the scheduled date, he and the children disappeared again.

The police did not immediately launch a search because Phillips, with an outdoor experience, had told the family that he was taking the children to another trip. He never returned.

The search intensified again after several Phillips sightings in 2023 in the same region where it had disappeared.

Phillips and their children were seen in October 2024 when a group of adolescent pig hunters saw them walk through the mountain and filmed the match on their phones.

He was It is also seen in the surveillance video last month While stealing a grocery store at night, accompanied by one of his children.

The children’s mother issued a statement to Radio New Zealand on Monday in which he said he was “deeply relieved” that the “test” for her children had ended.

“They have been surprised every day for almost four years, and we hope to welcome you home with love and care,” said the woman, who has been identified in the New Zealand media only by her first name, Cat.

Phillips family had previously appealed to Phillips to be delivered and returned to the children.

“There is a lot of love and there is a lot of support, and we are ready to help you walk for what you need to walk,” said his sister, Rozzi Phillips, to the New Zealand news site in an exclusive interview last month.

• New Zealand