SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Special Constable Troy Foster, who was killed in a confrontation with gunmen in Malvern, south east St Elizabeth, on Thursday evening, is being remembered by his commanding officer as a “model” policeman.

“He could be described as a model constable, soft-spoken, a keen listener, and a dedicated worker,” said the Island Special Constabulary Force Commander for St Elizabeth Anthony Lewis.

“He was like a son I never had,” a grieving Lewis added.

Foster, 26, of Knoxwood in south west St Elizabeth whose only child, a son, turned one-month old on Thursday, died when the mobile patrol in which he was a member engaged gunmen in normally quiet Malvern.

Police say one of the gunmen, Tyrone Edmond, otherwise called ‘Chevy’ of a Kingston address, was also killed in the confrontation. A 45 semi-automatic pistol was taken from the scene, police say.

The police also said that Edmond was before the courts, and out on bail, for the 2010 murder of returned resident Cecil Bennett in Top Hill, south east St Elizabeth. Reports at the time were that Bennett, a 60-year-old resident of Junction, was relaxing in a bar at Top Hill when three gunmen entered, robbed the patrons, the bartender, and shot Bennett.

Speaking by telephone from his office in the St Elizabeth capital, Black River, Lewis said there had been a “tsunami of grief” in the police fraternity in the parish and the wider Jamaica, following news of Foster’s death.

“All day we have had to be dealing with outbursts of tears,” he said. Counselling specialists from the victim support service and the Police Chaplaincy Unit had been busy trying to help officers to cope, he said.

Lewis praised the leadership of the force nationally and at the local level including Area 3 (St Elizabeth, Manchester, Clarendon) Senior Supt Derrick Knight and head of the St Elizabeth police Supt Dezeita Taylor for their “outstanding” support.

“The support from the entire force and all Jamaica has been very heartening,” he said. “What this tragedy has done is to motivate us to redouble our efforts to fight criminals.”

Deputy Superintendent Lanford Salmon, who is in charge of operations in St Elizabeth, also suggested Foster’s death would strengthen the police’s resolve.

“Even as we mourn we will be relentless in our quest to bring criminals to justice,” he said.