Police divers search Stoneville Pond near the site where Auburn police Officer Ronald Tarentino was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Auburn, Mass. (Rick Cinclair/Worcester Telegram & Gazette via AP)
A man accused of killing a police officer during a routine traffic stop has been killed in a gunfight with police, officials have said.
Authorities believed Jorge Zambrano shot Officer Ronald Tarentino in Auburn, Massachusetts on Sunday.
They closed in on him in the nearby town of Oxford later that day. As officers approached him inside a housing complex Zambrano, 35, burst out of a bedroom closet and opened fire on officers, investigators said.
"The suspect appeared from inside a closet and fired on the troopers, striking one of them," said State Police Colonel Richard McKeon. "The State Police Special Tactical Operations team returned fire and struck the suspect."
Zambrano, who authorities said had a criminal history, was taken to hospital, where he died.
The unidentified injured officer, a former Navy Seal, suffered a gunshot wound to his left shoulder.
"I'm extremely proud of the work done by every trooper and officer involved in today's investigation and tactical operation," said Massachusetts State Police Colonel Richard McKeon. "My pride is outweighed only by my sorrow for the Tarentino family and the Auburn police, and my concern over our injured trooper."
Tarentino, 42, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He had been with the Auburn police force for two years and leaves behind a wife and three children.
Officials said Zambrano fled the scene after the shooting. They later learned that he was at the Oxford duplex and spotted what they believed was his vehicle parked behind the building. It remained unclear why Zambrano may have shot Tarentino or why he went to the duplex.
"The threat he [Zambrano] posed to our community is now over," Auburn Police Chief Andrew Sluckis said. "We now continue the process of speaking for Officer Tarentino by continuing to investigate all the facts and circumstances of his homicide. We owe his family a thorough accounting of everything that occurred."
State and local police officers lined up outside of the hospital on Sunday 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.
There have been 37 police officers killed in the US so far this year,19 of which were firearms related, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.