By Antonio Planas
Boston Herald
AUBURN, Mass. — The devastated mother of slain Auburn police officer Ronald Tarentino Jr. denounced a dangerous, growing culture of disrespect for law enforcement that she sees.
“I just wish people had a little bit more respect for what they do — nobody has respect for them anymore,” Sharon Tarentino, 63, told the Herald yesterday as she grieved her 42-year-old son, fatally shot yesterday in a pre-dawn traffic stop.
“You never think it’s going to happen to you, it hits you like a sledgehammer. It’s just not fair,” Tarentino said by phone from her Tewksbury home. She said her family was heartbroken.
“He was our first born. His kids are older but they are still going to grow up without their father, and Tricia without her husband,” Tarentino said, referring to her son’s widow and their three boys, ranging in age from 15 to early 20s.
Tarentino said the couple’s middle child is due to graduate from high school next week and the oldest is in the Army.
Tarentino said as of yesterday afternoon, investigators hadn’t told her much about the man who took her son’s life, only that they know who he was and were on the hunt. The suspect was killed in a standoff with authorities later yesterday.
Her hulking son, who stood about 6 feet, 4 inches tall, filled out his uniform nicely, she said. He looked the part of a tough officer, but his compassion always shone through.
“He was happy-go-lucky,” Tarentino said of her son. “He could be the life of the party. He was good with everybody. He was a good person, an easy-going person — a gentle giant, really.”
She said her fallen son had followed in his father’s footsteps. Ronald Tarentino Sr. was a Medford police officer who retired recently after more than four decades on the job.
“It was his family and his job. It took him a little while to figure it out. But that’s what he wanted to do,” Tarentino said of her son’s decision to wear the badge.
Medford police Lt. Mark Rudolph said he worked alongside the elder Tarentino — known on the force as “Ronnie Senior” — for more than three decades. Rudolph said cops are a tight-knit community, and Medford police were struggling yesterday with the news their former colleague’s son was slain on duty.
“Ronnie Senior is a great person, a great officer, an all-around nice guy,” Rudolph said. “He’s the kind of guy who you would want for a partner, the kind of guy who is friendly with everybody. ... I’m sure his son was just like him.
“It’s tough to take, it really is,” Rudolph said. “Law enforcement is a very difficult profession to work in. Unfortunately, we’re being targeted nationwide by individuals who would rather put up a fight instead of submitting.”
#Worcester #Shrewsbury: #BurnsBridge will shine Blue tonight in honor of @AuburnMAPolice Officer Ronald Tarentino. pic.twitter.com/6QNf26D6md
— Mass. Transportation (@MassDOT) May 23, 2016
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