Overview

• Officers responded before dawn to a reported burglary at a rural store near Piopio and used road spikes to stop a quad bike carrying two people.
• An officer was shot in the head at close range and airlifted for surgery, and a second officer returned fire, with the man believed to be Phillips dying at the scene.
• The injured officer remains in serious condition but is conscious and communicating, according to police.
• One child at the scene was uninjured and is in police care, and investigators recovered multiple firearms and stolen items.
• Two children remain missing, formal identification of the deceased is pending, and recent CCTV from a local break-in helped direct police to the area.