The New Zealand father who went on the run with his three kids in 2021 has been killed in a shootout with police, but only one of the missing children was with him at the time. Tom Phillips had custody of his children, then ages 5, 6, and 8, when he disappeared. Authorities suspected they had never gone far from the remote rural community in which they lived, but simply disappeared into the bush. Phillips is believed to have carried out several thefts and an armed bank robbery while on the run, and the group has been spotted a few times over the years; authorities believed they may have been receiving help from a person or people in the area. The search for Phillips came to an end in the wee hours of Sunday, after someone called police around 2:30am to report an apparent burglary in progress at a rural farm store, the New Zealand Herald reports.
The alarm at the store sounded, and when police arrived at the scene, someone drove by on a quad bike and a chase ensued, Stuff.co.nz reports. During the ensuing shootout, Phillips was killed and an officer was shot and injured. His children are Jayda, now 12, Maverick, now 10, and Ember, now 9; sources say Jayda is the child who was believed to have been with Phillips, and she is now reportedly assisting police as they search for her siblings, for whom authorities say they have "serious concerns." Temperatures were set to drop to near-freezing overnight in the area.
The children's mother weighed in with a statement. "First and foremost, we are deeply relieved that for our tamariki this ordeal has come to an end," she said, using the Maori word for children, per the BBC. "[The children] have been dearly missed every day for nearly four years, and we are looking forward to welcoming them home with love and care. 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."
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