A police officer was shot and killed during a traffic stop in a central Massachusetts town early Sunday and authorities are now hunting for the suspect, Fox 25 Boston reported.
The murdered officer, Ronald Tarentino, 42, joined the Aubu Police Department two years ago after transferring from the Leicester, Mass., department, Aubu Police Chief Andrew Sluckis said at a news conference Sunday afteoon.
Police surrounded a house Sunday afteoon close to four miles from where the shooting took place, and gunshots were heard as authorities deployed tear gas and a robot, The Boston Herald reported.
BREAKING: Sources say Aubu police officer shot oveight has died. https://t.co/sVXcclCLeq pic.twitter.com/yXKK0cc0QI
— FOX25 News Boston (@fox25news) May 22, 2016
State and local police surrounded the home in Oxford, Mass. and were using a bullho to tell the occupants to come out, the Herald reported.
The murdered officer, Ronald Tarentino, 42, joined the Aubu Police Department two years ago after transferring from the Leicester, Mass., department, Aubu Police Chief Andrew Sluckis said at a news conference Sunday afteoon.
Authorities have not yet released information about the suspect's identity.
A law enforcement source told Fox 25 that police are looking for suspects out of Worcester, Mass.
Our thoughts and prayers are with @AubuMAPolice as they mou the loss of one of their officers who was killed oveight.
— Arlington Police (@ArlingtonMAPD) May 22, 2016
Tarentino leaves a wife and three children.
The department “lost a dedicated and brave public servant,” Sluckis said, before aouncing that no further details on the incident would be released at this time.
Massachusetts State Police said the Aubu police officer was shot at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Aubu is about 45 miles southwest of Boston.
Tarentino was rushed to UMass Medical Center in Worcester, WGGB/WSHM-TV reported.
Aubu Police, the Massachusetts State Police, the FBI, and the Worcester Police are working together in the investigation, Sluckis said.
State and local police officers lined up outside the hospital on Sunday 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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.