New Zealand fugitive father on the run with children for almost four years shot dead by police

"A police officer was shot several times with a high-powered rifle and seriously injured in the attempt to arrest Phillips, New Zealand police acting Deputy Commissioner Jill Rogers said at a press conference. Police were alerted to a robbery at a store in a small rural town in the region of Waikato around 2:30 a.m. (14.30 GMT Sunday) and laid spikes on the road to stop the suspects - Phillips and one of his children - were expected to take. Phillips' motorbike hit the spikes and the first officer at the scene was "confronted by gunfire at close range," Rogers said."

""Our officer has been struck in the head. He's immediately fallen to the ground and taken cover," Rogers said, adding that the injuries were survivable. She said a second police officer then arrived and Phillips was shot, and despite efforts to save him he died at the scene. The body had not been formally identified but police were confident it was Phillips."

"One of his children was with him during the shooting and the other two children were later found at a campsite in dense bush. "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. Phillips failed to attend a court hearing in 2022 and had been pursued by police ever since. He evaded authorities by allegedly hiding out in thick bush and remote farmland in New Zealand's central North Island."

Tom Phillips disappeared with his three children, then aged 9, 10 and 12, in late 2021 and evaded arrest for nearly four years. Police responded to a store robbery in rural Waikato at about 2:30 a.m. and laid spikes to stop the suspected suspects. Phillips' motorbike hit the spikes and an officer was met with close-range gunfire and struck in the head; that officer remains seriously injured and in surgery but with survivable wounds. A second officer shot Phillips, who died at the scene. One child was with Phillips; the other two were later found in dense bush and were uninjured.

Read at Irish Independent