NZ Herald Morning News Update | Tom Phillips injunction, FBI hunt for Kirk's killer. Erica Stanford delivers an education update as the airport gears up for summer.
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The family of Tom Phillips are “absolutely gutted” that the Marokopa man shot a police officer and hope the man makes a full recovery, a spokesperson says.
“They’re just an innocent person doing their job.”
The spokesperson said the focus nowwas on the wellbeing of Phillips’ children.
Tom Phillips died after a shootout with police who were called to reports of a burglary in the early hours of Monday. A police officer was shot multiple times and remains in hospital with significant injuries, which police have described as “survivable”.
One of Phillips’ children, who was with him at the time, then began helping police and told them there were firearms at their campsite.
More than 12 hours later, the remaining children were found in a remote campsite, deep in dense bush about 2km from where Phillips was shot.
Police at one of the campsites just off Te Anga Rd, near Waitomo, where Tom Phillips and his children were hiding for the last four years. Photo / Dean Purcell
A family spokesperson, who asked not to be named, told RNZ the last week had been “beyond belief”.
