Police fatally shoot man after burglary; officer injured; kids found

A man believed to be fugitive father Tom Phillips was shot dead by police in the rural Waikato district of New Zealand early Monday after officers responding to a reported burglary confronted a quad bike that had fled the scene, police said. The exchange of gunfire left an officer seriously injured, one child taken into custody and, hours later, two other children who had been missing with Phillips for nearly four years located unaccompanied, authorities said.

Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers told reporters that police were alerted about 2:30 a.m. to a break in at an agricultural supplies store in Piopio and sightings of two people on a four wheeled farm bike leaving the scene. Road spikes were deployed and the bike stopped. The first officer to approach the stopped vehicle was, Rogers said, fired upon at close range and struck in the head. After backup arrived, officers returned fire, fatally wounding the man at the scene. Medical attention was given but he did not survive, Rogers said.

Formal identification has not been completed, but police said they believe the deceased was Thomas Callam Phillips, who disappeared into the Waikato bush in December 2021 with his...