CLARKSDALE, Miss., Feb. 14 (UPI) — Police have identified an officer who was shot in the face Saturday night while investigating a robbery at a convenience store in Mississippi.
Cpl. Derrick Couch is in critical condition after being shot by a suspect while investigating the robbery, according to Clarksdale Mayor Bill Luckett.
Clarksdale Police police responded to a call about an armed robbery at the store around 9:00 P.M. on February 13.
Two men, both wearing masks and one with a pistol, stole money out of the register and ran out the store’s back door, which is five blocks away from the police department, according to WAFB-TV.
Couch saw something suspicious going on at the store and encountered the men while checking it out. One of the two men shot Couch in the head, leaving him in the street where officers found him, investigators said.
The police department, with help from other law enforcement agencies, are reviewing security footage from the store in hopes of identifying the robbers, WHBQ-TV reported.
This shooting comes on the heels of a record number of officers killed in the line of duty. This year alone, eight officers in the U.S., starting with the fatal shooting of Unified Police Officer Doug Barney here in Utah on Jan. 17, 2016, have been killed.
The 2016 gunfire fatalities mark a notable increase from the same Jan. 1 through Feb. 11 period last year, when just one officer was shot dead, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
