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MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE VIA AP
This undated identification photo released by the Massachusetts State Police shows Jorge Zambrano, killed Sunday during an exchange of gunfire with police at an apartment building in Oxford, Mass. Zambrano had been suspected in the shooting death of Auburn, Mass., Police Officer Ronald Tarentino during a traffic stop early this morning.
Auburn Police Chief Andrew Sluckis reads a statement about Auburn police Officer Ronald Tarentino who was was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Auburn, Mass., Sunday. Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr., right, joins Sluckis at the briefing. (Rick Cinclair/Worcester Telegram & Gazette via AP)
AUBURN, Mass. » The suspect in the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts police officer died after an exchange of gunfire Sunday as authorities closed in on him at a small town residence, police said.
The man, identified as 35-year-old Jorge Zambrano, burst out of a closet and opened fire on the officers as they approached him inside a duplex apartment in Oxford, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said at a news conference.
“The suspect appeared from inside a closet and fired on the troopers, striking one of them,” State Police Colonel Richard McKeon said. “The STOP (State Police Special Tactical Operations) team returned fire and struck the suspect.”
Zambrano, who authorities said had a criminal history, was taken to a hospital, where he died.
A Massachusetts State trooper, also wounded, was scheduled to undergo surgery late Sunday night. He suffered a gunshot wound to his left shoulder during the shootout, authorities said. The name of the 18-year veteran and former U.S. Navy Seal wasn’t released.
The manhunt for Zambrano began after Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarentino was fatally shot during a traffic stop about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Tarentino stopped the vehicle on a residential road, and the vehicle’s occupant shot the officer then fled the scene, Auburn Police Chief Andrew Sluckis said earlier Sunday. Auburn is about 45 miles southwest of Boston.
The 42-year-old Tarentino was taken to UMass Medical Center in Worcester, where he was pronounced dead. He had been with the Auburn police force for two years and before that worked with the Leicester Police Department in his hometown.
At the news conference after the manhunt, Sluckis assured the central Massachusetts community that residents were safe.
“The threat he posed to our community is now over,” Sluckis said.
Officials said they had “developed information” that Zambrano was at the duplex in Oxford, about 7 miles south of Auburn. They said they found what they believed was his vehicle parked behind the building.
With Tarentino’s shooting, the manhunt got underway full force. State police divers searched a pond near the traffic stop.
“We will leave no stone unturned in our investigation to determine who was involved,” Sluckis said. He called Tarentino a “dedicated and brave public servant.”
State and local police officers lined up outside the hospital as a police vehicle, escorted by a procession, took Tarentino’s body to the state medical examiner’s office in Boston, where the vehicle was met by another large contingent of officers.
Tarentino was the second police officer to die in the line of duty in Massachusetts this year. State police Trooper Thomas Clardy was killed March 16 when his cruiser was struck by another vehicle.
Outside the Auburn police station, the American flag was lowered to half-staff. The town’s residents left bouquets of flowers and miniature American flags piled at the bottom of a stone monument dedicated to law enforcement officers who’ve been killed in the line of duty.
Residents in Tarentino’s Leicester neighborhood remembered him Sunday as a pleasant family man. Tarentino is survived by a wife and three children.
Phillip Stanikmas told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette that Tarentino kept an eye out for his 91-year-old mother when she was home alone. Stanikmas said he was “distraught” when Tarentino left the Leicester Police Department because he was a “great guy.”
“I wanted him to stay in Leicester,” Stanikmas said.
Associated Press writer Amy Anthony in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.
The manhunt started with a violent beginning and came to a just end. He got what he deserved. I wonder if he was here legally.
Hispanics lives matter. Where are the protesters?
Sorry, you have to be black to play that card.
Savings on court costs which is a good thing.
The AP and the rest of the “news sources” will never tell you if he’s an illegal. the term illegal alien is banned from print.
“Zambrano, who authorities said had a criminal history, ….” Convict lives matter? Should have kept this guy in jail and we wouldn’t be having this discussion. When people demonstrate they don’t want to live by the rules of society – KEEP them out of society.
As I understand it, routine traffic stops and domestic arguments present police with two of the most dangerous situations they encounter. I’m sorry that one officer died, and am glad the police were able to find and stop this guy before he killed anyone else.
Police officers should have available remote control armed robots. If person in car does not follow commands and shoots, the criminal is dead and not the cop . End of story.