Man's father, known as 'Bushman', mysteriously vanished into the wilderness for four years, eventually surfacing to launch a crime spree that ended in a violent confrontation.
In a dramatic turn of events in New Zealand, the fugitive known as 'Bushman' Tom Phillips was shot and killed in a firefight with armed officers. The incident occurred on a rural road in an unspecified location, following a series of crimes that had evaded capture for years.
Phillips, who had been on the run with his three children for four years, was first reported missing in September 2021. His children were found safe and alive two weeks later, but their father remained elusive.
The crime spree that led to Phillips's demise began with the robbery of the ANZ bank in Te Kuiti, an hour's drive from Marokopa, in May 2023. Witnesses reported New Zealand dollars floating up the main street as he made his getaway, leaving a trail of chaos in his wake.
Phillips's criminal activities didn't end with the bank robbery. He was involved in a crime spree that included stealing a quad bike, a utility vehicle, and four motorbikes. He even resorted to botched thefts to get resources for his family.
One such botched theft led to a shootout in the small town of Piopio. Phillips's quadbike lost control when it ran over spikes laid by the police, leading to a confrontation that ended with his death. During the firefight, he shot one of the officers in the head, leaving the injured policeman in a serious condition in hospital. Remarkably, Phillips's daughter Jayda was uninjured.
By this point, Phillips no longer had custody of his children, as the local authorities had ruled they should be taken into their care. His disappearance with his children in 2021 had sparked a nationwide search, but the details of where he stayed with his children before permanently disappearing from the authorities in December of the same year remain unclear.
Search teams found Maverick and Ember, Phillips's other two children, at a campsite just over a mile away from the shootout. Phillips's sister Rozzi Pethybridge expressed anger towards anyone helping him without informing the family.
In the months leading up to the shootout, Phillips was caught on CCTV buying headlamps, batteries, and seedlings from a supermarket, and using an angle grinder to break the padlock on the door to the back of a shop in Piopio with one of his children at 2am in an unknown month.
The incident followed a shop ram raid, and Phillips was also caught on security cameras trying to break into a store in nearby Piopio with a child in an unknown month.
There are suspicions that he took his daughter on an earlier armed bank robbery, adding a chilling dimension to the story of this elusive fugitive. His truck was found partially in the water on a beach in 2021, but it wasn't until this recent shootout that Phillips's reign of crime came to an end.
This tragedy serves as a reminder of the far-reaching consequences of criminal actions and the importance of family safety and welfare. The investigation into Phillips's crimes is ongoing, and more details are expected to emerge in the coming days.
