{"id":407320,"date":"2025-09-08T08:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T08:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/407320\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T08:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T08:07:12","slug":"fugitive-father-on-the-run-with-children-for-nearly-four-years-shot-dead-by-police-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/407320\/","title":{"rendered":"Fugitive father on the run with children for nearly four years shot dead by police | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man who had been hiding with his three children in the New Zealand wilderness for nearly four years has been shot dead after an armed confrontation with police.<\/p>\n

Thomas Phillips and his two daughters and son, believed to be aged 9, 10 and 12, had been evading police since December 2021 in a remote part of the country’s North Island.<\/p>\n

While formal identification has yet to take place, New Zealand’s acting deputy police commissioner Jill Rogers said at a news conference on Monday: “We believe him to be Tom Phillips.”<\/p>\n

His relatives confirmed his death to local news outlets.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Tom Phillips. Pic: New Zealand Police<\/p>\n

A police officer was shot in the head and critically injured during the confrontation with Phillips, who he is believed to have robbed a farm supplies shop in the Waikato region in the early hours of Monday morning, Ms Rogers said.<\/p>\n

A second police officer then arrived and Phillips was shot, and despite efforts to save him, he died at the scene, Ms Rogers added.<\/p>\n

One child, who was with Phillips at the time of the robbery, was taken into custody. The other two were found hours later at a remote campsite and also taken into custody.<\/p>\n

The children’s mother, referred to as Cat, said in a statement to state-owned Radio New Zealand the events had brought up a wave of complex emotions.<\/p>\n

“They have been dearly missed every day for nearly four years, and we are looking forward to welcoming them home with love and care,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Follow<\/p>\n

Follow The World <\/p>\n

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday<\/p>\n

Tap to follow<\/a><\/p>\n

In August, the family of Phillips broke their silence<\/a><\/strong> to appeal for him to return home.<\/p>\n

For the first time, his family directly appealed to Phillips in the hope that “just maybe, he’s going to see this” and “that we are here for him”.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:<\/strong>
Mum jailed for life after serving poisonous mushroom lunch<\/a><\/strong>
Goodbye summer – get ready for a wet and windy autumn<\/a><\/strong>
US Open men’s final delayed by Trump’s arrival<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The case has fascinated New Zealanders and police made regular unsuccessful appeals for people to report any sightings of Phillips.<\/p>\n

There was sporadic surveillance footage that showed him allegedly committing crimes in the area – but very few in-person or concrete sightings.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Phillips did not have legal custody rights for his children, it has been reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man who had been hiding with his three children in the New Zealand wilderness for nearly four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-407320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115167654343511976","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}