A New Zealand father who was killed by police while on the run with his three children had been hiding at a makeshift bushland campsite stocked with weapons and ammunition, police have said.

Tom Phillips, who absconded with his three children in 2021 amid a custody dispute with his former partner, was killed on Monday after being confronted by police following a burglary in the rural town of Piopio.

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Police say they shot Phillips dead after he opened fire on officers, leaving one with critical injuries.

Phillips’ children – aged 12, 10 and nine – were safely recovered by authorities.

New Zealand Police on Tuesday released images of the campsite where they say Phillips and his children had been holed up before his fatal encounter with police.

Police said “several” firearms were recovered from the campsite located in “dense bush” in Waitomo, a rural community located about 190km (120 miles) south of Auckland, along with three guns that were found at the scene of the shootout.

Two quad bikes were also recovered at the campsite.

Zealand Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said officers had spent years considering how to best handle the situation as they were aware that Phillips was “armed,” “dangerous” and “motivated”.

“We were confident that, irrespective of how hard we tried to bring it to a peaceful conclusion, that with a motivated person that was always going to be a challenge,” Chambers told a news conference.

“And that has informed the way that we have dealt with this matter over the four years.”

Chambers said Philips, who was facing robbery and other charges, and his children had moved about frequently, making it difficult to pin down their whereabouts.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell said officers had been at pains to bring the situation to a conclusion without any loss of life.

“You had a father, in Mr Phillips, who, in my view, had no regard for the safety of those children. He seemed to be solely motivated in terms of what he wanted to do and how things were impacting him,” Mitchell said.

Philips’s disappearance from the remote community of Marokop with his children in December 2021 gripped New Zealand and generated headlines worldwide.

Despite sightings over the years and appeals by his family, Philips was able to repeatedly frustrate the efforts of police to bring him into custody.

In the most recent sighting last month, Philips and one of his children were identified by authorities in security camera footage of two individuals breaking into a rural store.