WESTERN BUREAU – The Jamaica Constabulary Force has lost another of its police officers who was gunned down yesterday morning attempting to apprehend criminals in the hills of Trelawny.

Detective Constable Clinton Degouthe, 37, was killed in a gun battle between a police response team and several men, in the farming community of Freeman’s Hall in Ulster Spring Wednesday night.

Degouthe, who was assigned to the Ulster Spring Police Station in Trelawny, is the third policeman to be killed for this year.

The lawmen have since held three suspects, apprehended in the Wait-a-Bit area and are now in the custody of the Ulster Spring police.

They were taken off a mini-bus headed for Christiana in the neighbouring parish of Manchester.

Angry residents of Ulster Spring stormed the police station yesterday, some demanding that the police release the men so that they could avenge the policeman’s death. But the police managed to keep them under control.

The Constabulary Communication Network in its report of the incident leading to Degouthe’s death, said the police team had gotten reports Wednesday night that men toting guns were seen in Freeman’s Hall, and went in search of them at about 11:15 pm.

The reports say the police party was fired upon, leading to a shoot-out in which Degouthe was hit. He died on the spot.

Detectives of the Trelawny police division are investigating.

hinesh@jamaicaobserver.com