A Massachusetts couple rushed to the side of a dying police officer after he was hit in a shooting during a traffic stop.
Tammy Lemieux fought tears as she recalled the moment that she and her husband rushed to help Auburn officer Ronald Tarentino after the officer was shot.
«I held him, I tried to keep him calm,» she told WBZ, explaining that she heard Tarentino yelling from across the street that he’d been shot. When Lemieux and her husband approached the officer, there was no sign of anyone else around. He had been shot in the lower back.
«My husband held his head up, and the towel, and rolled him with the other officer to check the wound,» the woman said.
The man who shot Tarentino, Jorge Zambrano, was killed by police following a four-hour standoff. The standoff ended when Zambrano emerged from hiding to ambush the officers and shot a trooper. The other officers returned fire and killed the suspect, WFXT reported.
Tarentino was 42 years old and married with three children.
«I hope he rests in peace knowing he wasn’t alone, that me and my husband were with him, and I want him to be at peace and his family to be at peace knowing he wasn’t alone,» Lemieux said.
Many readers praised Lemieux and her husband for staying with the dying officer and comforting him before he succumbed to his injuries.
«Thank you for giving this hero a kind and loving few moments before he passed away. A senseless crime, to be sure, but he wasn’t left alone to suffer and die. God bless his family and fellow officers, and God bless you,» one Mad World News reader commented on the site’s Facebook page.
«Thank you for being with this precious brave man in blue. The Angels came for him and They thank you as well. God rest his soul and God bless you both. And God bless his family,» another wrote.
«Thank you for being a blessing to this great police officer!!! May God bless these two citizens for their kindness and for the heroic police officer. My the family of this police officer know that I am so very sorry for your great loss! A police officer’s family must have to live with this type of stress everyday. All I can say is, my heart goes out to you at this time of grief and for the uncertainty for your family’s future,» another added.
