LEICESTER, Mass. (WHDH) – Police officers in Leicester are in mourning for their former colleague who was shot and killed in Auburn early Sunday morning.
Before he became an officer in Auburn two years ago, Officer Ronald Tarentino was a police officer in Leicester for seven years. He worked as a dispatcher for another agency before that.
“It’s difficult to stand here right now,” said Leicester Police Sgt. Paul Doray, who choked back tears Monday as he remembered Tarentino. “Ronny made friends everywhere, there’s not a single person in this department that wasn’t friends with this guy.”
Tarentino was shot during a traffic stop in Auburn. Police said suspect Jorge Zambrano took off and was killed in a shootout with police hours later.
Leicester Police Chief James Hurley said Tarentino was an ambitious officer who did investigations in his free time. “It was Officer Tarentino’s dedication to the safety of the residents in Auburn that cost him his life,” said Hurley.
The town held a vigil in his memory Sunday evening.
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