One of Tom Phillips’ children reportedly held a rifle at police after they were found in a campsite in the remote New Zealand bush – after being on the run with their father for almost four years.
Specialist officers found 10-year-old Maverick Phillips armed with the firearm as they approached the hideout, but managed to convince the boy to put it down, the New Zealand Herald reported.
‘There was a negotiation which commenced with the children, and that proceeded, and they came out,’ Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders said.
NZ Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said the negotiators were ‘very highly trained and skilled’.
Phillips’ daughter Jayda, 12, helped police find the campsite where her siblings Maverick and Ember, nine, were hiding – and reportedly told police that there were guns at the site.
‘We had information to say a firearm was present [at the campsite], and there was,’ Commissioner Chambers said.
He added that Jayda was ‘very, very helpful’ and advised police on the best way to talk to her younger siblings so they didn’t feel threatened.
However, she did not personally guide police through the bush to them.
‘We kept her not far away, but far enough away that her safety wasn’t compromised,’ Commissioner Chambers said.
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Ember, nine, Maverick, 10, and Jayda, 12, are currently in the care of authorities after spending almost four years on the run with their father Tom Phillips, who was shot dead early Monday
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Firearms were found at the remote campsite (pictured) which wasn’t far from where the missing children were located on Monday afternoon
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Tom Phillips’ quad bike (pictured) was stocked with animal food when it was towed from the scene of the deadly shootout on Tuesday
Jayda was present when her father was killed in a roadside shootout near the rural town of Piopio in the North Island’s Waikato region, after police intercepted the pair on a quad bike following an armed farm supply store robbery.
When officers deployed road spikes, Phillips opened fire at close range, shooting one officer in the head, which left him with critical injuries.
Police will now try to ‘put the puzzle together’ of how the family lived, found food, and avoided detection by search teams for so many years.
Photos released by the police of the family’s final campsite, where soda cans, tyres, cooking equipment and a metal container sat amid camouflaged belongings, gave few clues.
The site was likely a temporary one, as it was in terrain that had been searched previously.
‘It’s highly likely that we’ve been very, very close,’ Commissioner Chambers said.
‘If not right there.’
Police always believed that since Phillips disappeared in December 2021, he and his children had never travelled far from the tiny rural settlement where they lived.
But despite police offering a $80,000 reward, no one turned them in.
Police will now turn their focus to tracking down and identifying anyone suspected of helping Phillips and his children.
The fugitive father was skilled in wilderness survival. But as law enforcement increased patrols in the area, police were increasingly confident he was receiving assistance from others.
‘Aside from the burglaries we are now able to link to Tom, it is apparent that he had outside help,’ Det Saunders said.
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Police released photos of the family’s main campsite on Wednesday
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A shelter was constructed using tree branches and tarp
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Items found at the site include gas bottles, drink containers, and cooking equipment
The case divided New Zealand and Phillips found supporters online and among residents in Marokopa, where he had lived. Some locals previously told reporters that they endorsed his actions.
‘I can tell you he is no hero,’ Commissioner Chambers said.
‘No one who does this to children, no one who unleashes high-powered rifles on my staff, is a hero, simple as that.’
December 2021 wasn’t the first time Phillips and his children had vanished. Three months earlier, he sparked a massive search operation when his truck was found on a beach near his home, with no trace of the family.
Police feared they had been swept out to sea before Phillips and the children emerged from the forest after 17 days, saying they had been camping.
Phillips was charged with wasting police resources but disappeared again with the children before he was due to appear in court.
Phillips didn’t have legal custody of his children at the time he vanished. He was later wanted for an armed bank robbery in 2023, during which he was accompanied by one of his children and apparently shot at a member of the public as he fled.
He was spotted on CCTV footage in the area committing other break-ins to steal supplies, most recently last month.
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The children’s mother, Cat, (pictured) spoke out following the shooting death of their fugitive father, Tom Phillips
Beyond the thefts, it wasn’t clear how the family had survived in rugged countryside at freezing winter temperatures for years.
The three children remain in the care of authorities and are yet to be reunited with their mother.
A High Court judge on Monday night issued a temporary injunction banning police or news outlets from disclosing certain details of the case.
‘There’s a careful plan with everyone becoming involved at the right time in terms of making sure that the children are put on a really strong and healthy pathway to recovery,’ NZ Police Minister Mark Mitchell said.
‘They have seen and been exposed to things that children in our country should not be.
‘It’s very complicated and it’s very complex and it has been for quite some time.’
The children’s mother Cat broke her silence in a statement on Monday, saying she was relieved the ordeal had come to an end.
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Tom Phillips spend almost four years in the wilderness with his children, Jayda, 12, Maverick, ten, and Ember, nine. Pictured are the group captured by hunters in October 2024
‘They have been dearly missed every day for nearly four years, and we are looking forward to welcoming them home with love and care,’ Cat said.
‘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.’
