Massachusetts Officer Shot During Traffic Stop Dies

Massachusetts State Police divers search Stoneville Pond near the site where Auburn police Officer Ronald Tarentino was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Auburn, Mass., Sunday, May 22, 2016. A suspect is on the l... Massachusetts State Police divers search Stoneville Pond near the site where Auburn police Officer Ronald Tarentino was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Auburn, Mass., Sunday, May 22, 2016. A suspect is on the loose, authorities said. (Rick Cinclair/Worcester Telegram & Gazette via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT MORE LESS

AUBURN, Mass. (AP) — A police officer was shot and killed during a traffic stop in a central Massachusetts town early Sunday, and a suspect is on the loose, authorities said.

Auburn police Officer Ronald Tarentino was shot at about 12:30 a.m. after stopping a vehicle on a residential street, Chief Andrew Sluckis said during a news conference Sunday afternoon. The vehicle’s occupant shot Tarentino and then fled the scene, Sluckis said. 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.

The shooting is under investigation. Sluckis declined to provide further details about the investigation or the suspect.

“We will leave no stone unturned in our investigation to determine who was involved,” Sluckis said.

Tarentino is survived by a wife and three children, Sluckis said.

Tarentino joined the Auburn Police Department three years ago. Sluckis called him a “dedicated and brave public servant.”

State and local police officers lined up outside the hospital as a police vehicle, escorted by a police procession, took Tarentino’s body to the state medical examiner’s office in Boston, where the vehicle was met by a large group of officers.

___

Associated Press writer Amy Anthony in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

This post has been updated with a new photo.

10
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Forgive my asking , but is the photo of Italian police cars ?

  2. sad…but I suspect these types of incidents will only increase in time as frustrated Americans come face to face with the fact we now live in a world where law and order is a matter of “opinion” and not right and wrong…once again…compliments to the right wing by creating a world where there is no truth…only opinions.

  3. The street signs are definitely in German.

    Another fine choice of stock photo by TPM.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

4 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for overreach_this Avatar for kendyzdad Avatar for liberaljesus Avatar for bojimbo26 Avatar for randyabraham Avatar for sonsofares Avatar for misterneutron Avatar for tiowally

Continue Discussion