Overview

• Police say a man believed to be Tom Phillips was shot dead after officers stopped a quad bike fleeing a suspected burglary near Piopio and an attending constable was shot in the head at close range.
• Formal identification is pending, and multiple firearms were recovered at or near the scene where one of Phillips' children was taken into custody.
• Hours later, the other two children were found unaccompanied at a remote bush campsite about 2km away, are described as well and uninjured, and are now in the care of child welfare authorities.
• Investigators released photos of a makeshift campsite showing a quad bike and belongings, with forensic teams examining the area to map the family's movements.
• The injured officer remains in critical but survivable condition after surgery, and police are probing whether others helped Phillips during the nearly four-year manhunt that included alleged robberies and firearms offenses.