Police release detailed account of Oxford standoff
crawled between adjoining Oxford homes along with a pit bull in attempts to hide during a standoff with police that lasted for several hours Sunday afternoon, according to new details of the incident released Monday afternoon by Massachusetts State Police.
Officials also said that Zambrano, who allegedly shot Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarentino early Sunday morning during a traffic stop, was pulled over and arrested less than a week before the fatal shooting and complied with a state trooper in that incident.
Tarentino, 42, was killed around 12:30 a.m. Sunday. The officer had served with the Auburn Police Department for two years, and left behind a wife and three children.
Officer Ronald Tarantino
The search for Zambrano, who had a lengthy criminal record that included gun charges and assaulting a police officer, began early Sunday morning when a state police special tactical operations team deployed to 31 Watch St. in Oxford after authorities received information that Zambrano had fled to a Watch Street residence. The team, led by Major Richard Prior, loosely surrounded the perimeter of the house, and authorities ensured that residents of both the adjoining duplex and home next door were not present and prohibited them from returning to their residences until the situation was resolved, police said.
Around 2 p.m., the team closed in on the duplex. Using a long range acoustical device, police issued the first of many commands to Zambrano and any others inside the residence, asking them to surrender peacefully, according to police. Zambrano did not respond to such requests over a period of several hours, police said.
Shortly after the first command was issued, a man who lived in the home and knew Zambrano, walked out and surrender to authorities. He confirmed that Zambrano was armed and seeking shelter inside and had said he would refuse to surrender, according to police. The man was not charged.
Floor by floor, police fired tear gas canisters into the home. They also deployed a robot equipped with a camera into the house to search for Zambrano, but were not able to find him. Several officers, along with a K-9 unit, entered the building and searched each floor. While the team did not find Zambrano, they did uncover a hole about the size of a pizza box connecting the unit to the attached duplex, and then searched that unit, 33 Watch St., as well, according to police.
Officers replicated the initial process of searching the first home, throwing tear gas canisters through windows on each floor before entering the home along with the K-9 unit. A search of the basement and first floor did not reveal any signs of Zambrano, police said. On the second floor, troopers opened a closed closet door and a pit bull fled from the closet, running past them and out of house. Then, troopers saw a hand holding a firearm emerge from behind clothing hanging in the closet. The shooter fired at the troopers several times, striking one in the shoulder, according to police. The other two troopers immediately returned fire, fatally hitting the shooter, who they immediately identified as Zambrano, police said.
Jorge Zambrano
The wounded trooper, whose injuries weren’t considered life-threatening, walked out of the home without assistance and was transported to UMass-Lakeside for treatment. Zambrano, whose injuries appeared fatal at the scene, was taken to the same hospital and pronounced dead, according to police.
The pit bull was not captured at the scene, and officials don’t know where it fled after running from the home.
Less than a week before police his death, in Zambrano’s other run in with state police last Monday, he was arrested and charged with attaching plates, operating with a revoked license, and operating an unregistered motor vehicle after a trooper noticed that his license plate did not match his vehicle and pulled him over in Worcester, police said. Zambrano stopped his car and complied with the trooper, who arrested him on the charges without incident, according to police. Police say Zambrano was driving that same vehicle with the incorrect license plate, which was towed after the initial incident, when he shot Tarentino on Sunday, leading authorities to quickly identify him as a possible suspect.
Last week’s arrest was just one of many on Zambrano’s record, which dates back to 2003. In April, he was charged with assault and battery of a police officer, resisting arrest, and driving with a suspended license, according to court documents. Authorities said Zambrano was released from the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley in 2013 after serving seven years on charges including cocaine trafficking, two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, and two counts of resisting arrest.
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