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Auburn Police Chief Andrew Sluckis Jr. reads a statement about Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarentino who was was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Auburn, Mass., May 22, 2016.(Photo: Rick Cinclair, Worcester Telegram & Gazette via AP)
The lone suspect in the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts police officer was killed Sunday evening in a shootout with police, authorities said.
A state trooper was also injured in the exchange and was hospitalized.
Police began searching for the suspect early Sunday after Auburn, Mass., officer Ronald Tarentino Jr. was fatally shot during a traffic stop around 12:30 a.m. ET.
Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said the suspect, 35-year-old Jorge Zambrano of Worcester, died in “an exchange of gunfire” that erupted shortly after 6 p.m., after a veteran state trooper entered a duplex looking for him, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reported.
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Tarentino's death was the second of a central Massachusetts police officer in the past two months, the Telegram & Gazette reported. Trooper Thomas Clardy of Hudson, Mass., was killed March 16 in a car crash on the Massachusetts Turnpike.
So far this year, 38 police officers have died in the line of duty,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>19 by gunfire, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page Inc.,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a non-profit organization that honors "fallen law enforcement heroes."<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>128 officers were killed in 2015
This undated identification photo released by the Massachusetts State Police shows Jorge Zambrano, killed May 22, 2016, during an exchange of gunfire with police in Oxford, Mass.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: AP/Massachusetts State Police)
On Sunday evening, hundreds of people, many holding American flags, lined Main Street in Leicester, Mass., as Tarentino's body was brought to a local funeral home. As the silver hearse rolled by in a procession that included Auburn police cruisers and dozens of officers on motorcycles, residents, many with tears in their eyes, held their hands over their hearts.
As sirens wailed and blue lights flashed, the hearse pulled underneath a large American flag hoisted in the air on a firetruck ladder. Moments later, members of the department received hugs from Medford police, who helped with the escort, as well as state police.
Tarentino, 42, had been with the department two years. He<span style="color: Red;">*</span>leaves behind a wife and three children.
"We are devastated for his family,” said Auburn Police Chief Andrew J. Sluckis Jr.
The injured state trooper's name wasn't immediately released.
Follow Greg Toppo on Twitter: @gtoppo
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