The long escape of a New Zealand man who for 4 years has brought with him the three children subtracted from the former partner after a dispute ended up in his blood.
Tom Phillips was killed in a shooting with the police in the hilly region of Waikato, on the Northern Island. The case of Phillips has fascinated the country for years: the family has escaped capture despite several sightings, including the surveillance cameras that apparently showed Phillips and a child while bursting in a shop last month.
Today Phillips was killed after shooting an agent who had intervened for a theft with burglary. The agent, hit in one shoulder and head, was transported by helicopter to the hospital and subjected to surgery.
The images show Phillips in the middle of the road, with a rifle with a short distance. On police vehicles you can see several bullet holes.
One of Phillips’ sons was with him during the shooting and was arrested. The other two brothers were found around 16.30 rooms after a whole day of research in the Boscaglia.Tutti and three children, who are believed to have 9, 10 and 12 years old, are unharmed. Rogers said they were found after about fifty police officers was involved in research.
The authorities had been fearing for some time that the Phillips case ended with a shooting. The police believe that the man had several people who helped him escape capture, giving him food and accommodation. They received sporadic reports on children’s health and decided not to start a thorough research of the family so as not to threaten their safety. In recent weeks, they have considered that the support network could have crumbled, bringing the man to thefts with increasingly brazen burglary. “If you went to Marokopa, half of the city seemed to support him and half of the city thought it was a criminal,” said an agent “but more recently his support seemed to be exhausted”.
Since he fled in 2021, the police suspected Phillips of having committed several crimes and has accused him of aggravated robbery, aggravated injury and illegal possession of the firearm. The mother of the three children said he was raised that the ordeal ended. “We missed each other a lot every day, for almost four years, and we can’t wait to welcome them home with love and care,” he told the national rnz national broadcaster, “at the same time, we are saddened for how it ended”. The woman asked that the family privacy be respected in the hope that children reintegrate themselves into a “stable and loving environment” after “a long and difficult journey”.