Image source, Getty Images

"This is not what anybody wanted to happen today", New Zealand's prime minister said of the deadly shootout which brought an end to a national search effort for a man and his three children lasting almost four years.

The day's events began at around 02:30 local time (15:30 BST on Sunday), when police received a call from a member of the public reporting what they thought was an attempted burglary at a farm supply store in the rural town of Piopio, in New Zealand's Waikato region.

Shortly after, authorities stopped a quad bike travelling towards the town of Marokopa. A shootout followed and Tom Phillips was killed.

He had been on the run since December 2021, when he took his three children from their family home and fled into the bush.

One of those children was with Phillips when he was fatally shot by police. This child was taken into police custody, where - according to the authorities - they were able to give information to help locate their two siblings.

Police continued to search for Phillips's other two children, who were eventually found - as night fell and temperatures dropped to near-freezing - at a remote bush campsite.

The case has gripped New Zealand, with sporadic sightings of the family fuelling interest and a significant financial reward being offered to those with information.

We're ending our live coverage, but you can stay across further updates in our main news story.

New Zealand-based journalist Karen Rutherford calls this a "tragic day" for many in New Zealand who have followed this story "for four years almost to the day".

"Tom Phillips was deemed the 'hide and seek champion' - he took his children [into the] bush almost four years ago," she tells the BBC.

There was a family custody dispute unfolding at the time, she explains, and Phillips returned after almost three weeks only to disappear again in December 2021 - with "very few sightings" since.

"Over the years the police have said they believed Tom Phillips was getting help from within the community," Rutherford says, adding there has been a "divided sense" across New Zealand.

"Many people have supported him, others haven't."

This is a case that has spanned nearly four years - here's a look back at how the story has unfolded.

11 September 2021

Tom Phillips went missing for the first time with his three children from his parents’ home in Marokopa. A huge search effort followed, daily, for three weeks.

30 September 2021

Phillips arrived back home with his three children, claiming that they went "camping", but offered no explanation beyond that for the disappearance.

He was then charged for wasting police resources. The search efforts for three weeks cost the country hundreds of thousands of dollars.

December 2021

Phillips went missing again however this time round a search effort was not launched by police.

12 January 2022

Phillips failed to appear in court so police issued a warrant for his arrest.

9 February 2022

Phillips returned to his family home alone at night to collect supplies. He was not seen again for more than a year.

August – November 2023

There were numerous sightings of Phillips and the children - at a hardware store, in an altercation, on quad bikes, and in multiple alleged robberies.

June 2024

Police issues an $80,000 (£35,050) reward for any information that would lead to the location of Phillips and his three children. The reward expired and police did not have a breakthrough in the case.

4 October 2024

Phillips and his three children were spotted by pig hunters walking through farmland. Tom Phillips was seen carrying a rifle as the four of them hiked through Waikato farmland with large backpacks.

27 August 2025

CCTV showed what police believed were Phillips and one of his children, both masked, breaking into a shop in Piopo, Waitomo, in the middle of the night.

As we've been reporting this morning, a police officer has been severely injured during a shootout with Tom Phillips.

Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Jill Rogers told media that he had been "struck in the head" after being confronted by gunfire at close range.

The officer was airlifted to hospital, she added, and will require "numerous" surgeries.

New Zealand media have reported that the officer has suffered injuries to his eye.

Waitomo District Council Mayor John Robertson told the New Zealand Herald, external the he knows the injured officer. "He’s a local person that our part of the community knows really well," he said.

"It’s just so sad, for, obviously, for him, for his family, for his community that he's serving."

Vandhna Bhan
BBC News

Covering this case in New Zealand back in September 2021 when it first began, I remember there being shockwaves through the community - it was all anyone in New Zealand could talk about.

The father’s Toyota Hilux was found parked below a tide line at a nearby beach and from there, there was a huge search operation from the air, sea and land. These were daily operations for three weeks. Authorities had to navigate a cold, rainy, and a brutal landscape.

We never got an explanation as to why Phillip disappeared with the children the first time in September 2021. We thought we might hear answers in his court appearance after he was charged by the police, but he disappeared again with the children in December 2021 before that could take place.

Now with Phillips' death, there remain many unanswered questions around this case.

He never gave a reason for disappearing with his children, though some believe there was a custody dispute. And why did he choose to live in the wilderness for so long, despite appeals from his family who said they loved him?

We can now bring you some new pictures from the scene of the fatal shooting of Tom Phillips.

A roadblock is in place and police are gathering evidence and around the site near the town of Piopio in New Zealand's Waikato region.

Reporters line the remote road, where Deputy Commissioner of Police Jill Rogers gave an update a short while ago.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

If you've just joined us, here's what you need to know about the Tom Phillips case:

• The New Zealand man, who had been on the run with his three children for nearly four years, was killed by police early this morning
• Officers responding to an armed robbery in Waikato ended up engaging in a shootout with Phillips. One of Phillips' children was with him and survived unharmed, later helping police locate their siblings
• Authorities eventually found the two other kids who were alone at a remote campsite, following a massive hunt in near-freezing temperatures
• A police officer involved in the shootout was shot in the head. He has undergone the first of several surgeries and remains in serious condition
• Phillips and his kids – Ember, nine, Maverick, 10, and Jayda, 12 – disappeared from their family home in the small town of Marokopa in December 2021 over what police said was a custody battle
• Many New Zealanders, including Prime Minister Chris Luxon, had expressed concern for the children's safety

• The high-profile case has gripped New Zealand for years - Phillips' own family had directly appealed to him to come home as he was recently spotted with a child during a grocery store break-in caught on CCTV

Stick with us as we bring you more.

Vandhna Bhan
BBC News

I can imagine throughout New Zealand communities tonight there’s an overwhelming sense of relief that all three children have been found, especially before nightfall as temperatures are due to drop to 1C.

It is under sad circumstances though, as these children have lost their father.

It’s understood the one child who was in custody helped police locate the other two children at a nearby campsite and all three of them are well and not injured.

This is one of New Zealand’s greatest survival stories - many will want to know more from these three children about how they survived.

But it's also the "start of a long recovery" for these three children according to deputy police commissioner Jill Rogers, who added that "their welfare remains our top priority. For that reason, we will not be going into details about where they are now or their mental state".

As we've reported, all the children of Tom Phillips are now in police custody.

They are Ember, nine, Maverick, 10, and Jayda, 12.

Very few photographs have been made public of the children since they went missing in December 2021.

These pictures were released by New Zealand Police years ago as part of the search.

The two children were found unaccompanied, Deputy Police Commissioner Rogers said, adding that they have been "cooperative" since being discovered.

It is unclear if they have been told of Phillips' death, she said.

Police also said they have informed their mother Cat, as well as Phillips' parents, that the children have been found and are safe.

However Rogers declined to comment on whether the mother and grandparents will be involved in ongoing care of the children.

The two children were found at a remote bush campsite, police say.

The child who was earlier found with Phillips had given authorities information that had helped them locate the siblings, police say.

Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers also thanked the community around Piopio for providing information that supported the police's operations.

"These are small, rural and tight knit communities. They look after our people and we're very grateful for the support that they've provided this morning," she said in the latest update that wrapped up minutes ago.

Police say they have found Phillips' two other children.

They are unharmed and have been taken for medical checks, report New Zealand media outlets.

Earlier Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Jill Rogers told reporters that they are still searching for Tom Philips' missing two children, and that Philips' body is still at the scene - watch more from the press conference here:

Vandhna Bhan
BBC News

Image source, NZ Police

Tom Phillips came from a farming family in the small rural town of Marokopa in the western Waikato region.

This is an area surrounded by a very harsh landscape, a sweeping and rough coastline, dense bush, and forested terrain with a network of caves that span for many kilometres.

It was very tough conditions for police to conduct search efforts, and trying to find a man who clearly did not want to be found is very different to a lost hiker which is common in New Zealand. This case however, was a first of its kind.

Talking to Marokopa locals back in 2021 when I first covered this case, we knew Phillips was a bushman with survival skills that would have set him up for building shelters and foraging for food in the wilderness.

He was someone that wanted to be off the grid and wasn’t on any social media platforms.

Still, there were signs that he got desperate for resources. From 2023 onwards, there have been sightings of Phillips and his kids at numerous break-ins and robberies at hardware and grocery stores. He was also seen with a rifle.

The mayor of the Waitomo district says there are significant concerns among residents for Phillips' two children, who may be spending the night in the bush on their own.

“It’s just been an awful tragedy, and it’s still open,” John Robertson told New Zealand Herald.

“It’s been frantic. Really shocking, tragic, everything... Now [we're] just thinking of the children and what's ahead of them. It's really hard, [and] very stressful," Robertson said.

Vandhna Bhan
BBC News

This is a case that has gripped New Zealand for years now. I first started covering it in September 2021, when Phillips disappeared in the week that he was meant to be looking after the kids.

What followed was a massive search effort from New Zealand police that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Twenty days later, Phillips appeared with the kids back home, with no explanation on their disappearance.

He was charged with causing wasteful deployment of police resources and spending.

But before he was due to appear in court, he disappeared with the children again, in December that year.

He was spotted coming home for supplies in February 2022, after which there was no word on him for more than a year.

In 2024, police offered a $80,000 reward for information on him. But that also did not come to anything, until now.

Image source, New Zealand Government

New Zealand's leader Chris Luxon has said he is "very concerned" about the two children still missing, and how authorities are running out of daylight in their search.

"The whole country is anxiously waiting to hear that the missing children have been found," the prime minister said in a weekly briefing on Monday.

"I doubt there is a New Zealander who has not followed, to some extent, the story of the abduction of the children, of whom there had only been intermittent sightings since 2021."

Luxon added that his thoughts are with the police officer who had been seriously injured during the shootout.

"It is a sad and absolutely tragic event. This is not what anybody wanted to happen today. I think that is a consistent feeling from everybody across New Zealand," Luxon said.

Many New Zealanders have said they regret the turn of events and expressed concern for the children's safety.

Marlene McIsaac, a resident in the Waitomo district, says she wished there had been "a happier ending". "For the kids, you know? The kids will be devastated," McIsaac told New Zealand news service 1News.

"I hope the children are found quickly and that they’re safe and well," Anna, who lives in New Zealand, wrote on X.

"They’ll need a huge amount of support and care to get through this," she wrote.

"I am devastated about this outcome for Tom Phillips's children. They will need so much support to get through this," wrote another X user.

The press conference has ended, with Rogers saying police may provide updates later in the evening if there are significant developments.

The police have been keeping the mother of the children "fully informed" of latest updates, Rogers says.

We earlier reported that the mother, Cat, said she was "saddened by the events that unfolded today".

She also told local media outlet RNZ that she's "deeply relieved that for our tamariki this ordeal has come to an end," referring to the Maori word for children.

Rogers adds that police have found clothing, shoes, footwear on the quad bike that Phillips was riding on when he got shot.