By Leland Baxter-Neal Tico Times Staff Following a pre-dawn raid yesterday on a home in a residential neighborhood in the Caribbean-slope town of Guácimo, police arrested three of the eight prisoners who escaped from the La Reforma prison more than two weeks ago and killed a fourth in a shootout.

A fifth escapee, Robert Clark, 21, was arrested Sunday in the nearby Caribbean port town of Limón as he drank at the city’s Carnival celebration.

The convicts broke out of La Reforma, Costa Rica’s largest prison in Alajuela, northwest of San José, during the pre-dawn hours Oct. 9. They sawed through the bars on their windows, took multiple guards hostage and killed another (TT, Oct. 13).

Yesterday morning, at approximately 1 a.m., police descended on four of the fugitives holed up at a house in a residential community in Guácimo, Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) Director Jorge Rojas said.

A shootout left one of the escapees, identified by Rojas as Freddy García, 33, dead at the scene and two others injured, including Guillermo Araya, 48, who was transferred to Calderón Guardia Hospital in San José in delicate condition.

Araya, along with fellow fugitives Alberto Martínez, 38, and Johnny Rodríguez, 46, were arrested after the shootout. No police officers were injured in the incident, Rojas said. Police also arrested two others in the Guácimo home who Rojas said are suspected to be linked to area kidnappings.

Additionally, eight guns were seized from the house, including two believed to have been taken from La Reforma prison guards, two fragmentation grenades and a gas grenade. Police are still searching for the remaining three fugitives who escaped from La Reforma Oct. 9. The men were serving prison sentences for crimes including kidnapping for extortion, rape, sexual abuse and homicide.