Man who allegedly shot Auburn officer had record of assaulting police, drug use, and driving violations
The man suspected of killing an Auburn police officer morning had a history of attacking law enforcement officials and repeated driving violations, according to court documents obtained by The Boston Globe.
Jorge Zambrano, 35, was fatally shot by state troopers during a standoff with police that lasted several hours Sunday afternoon. Authorities say he’s the man who shot and killed Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarentino during a traffic stop early Sunday morning.
Court records allege that Zambrano assaulted a Worcester officer in January, pulling him by his shirt into his vehicle, where he had a large pit bull, the Globe reported. The officer removed Zambrano from his vehicle and arrested him after a struggle, charging him with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.
Police said Zambrano also had a pit bull with him in the Oxford duplex where he hid from police Sunday. The dog, which ran from the closet where Zambrano was hiding from troopers, fled the house and wasn’t seen after the incident, police said.
In March, Zambrano’s case regarding the Worcester officer was continued without a finding, and he was ordered to undergo mental health screenings as well as drug and alcohol testing, the Globe reported. Around the same time, Zambrano admitted to using cocaine and suboxone, which violated the terms of his release, yet officials allowed him to remain free.
Zambrano’s earlier charges regarding violence with police came nearly a decade earlier. In 2007, he was charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault and battery on a police officer, but wasn’t convicted. A year later, he was convicted of the same charges from an second similar incident, according to the Globe.
A long list of driving charges also appear in Zambrano’s record. A regular traffic offender, Zambrano hasn’t had a valid driver’s license since 2002, according to the Globe. He was pulled over by a state trooper less than a week before Tarentino stopped him in Auburn. In that stop, he was arrested without incident and charged with attaching plates, operating with a revoked license, and operating an unregistered motor vehicle, according to police.
Authorities say Zambrano was driving the same vehicle, which had been towed earlier that week, when Tarentino stopped him.
Read more details from Zambrano’s record in the Globe report here.
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