The Latest: Neighbors of police officer mourn his death

AUBURN, Mass. – The Latest on a police officer that was shot and killed in a Massachusetts town (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

Neighbors of a Massachusetts police officer who was fatally shot during a traffic stop are mourning his death.

Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarentino was shot around 12:30 a.m. Sunday. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Residents in Tarentino's Leicester neighborhood remember him as a pleasant family man.

Phillip Stanikmas told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette that Tarentino kept an eye out for his 91-year-old mother when she was home alone. Stanikmas said he was "distraught" when Tarentino left the Leicester Police Department three years ago to join Auburn because he was a "great guy."

Next-door neighbor Vin Dagostino called Tarentino a "super nice guy with a super nice family."

The 42-year-old Tarentino leaves behind a wife and three children.

Police are still searching for a suspect.

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12:20 p.m.

Authorities say a police officer has died hours after being shot during a traffic stop in a central Massachusetts town, and a suspect is on the loose.

Auburn Police Chief Andrew Sluckis says Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarentino was shot and killed early Sunday.

Sluckis said the 42-year-old Tarentino was shot at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday in Auburn, about 45 miles southwest of Boston.

The officer was transported to UMass Medical Center where he later died.

The shooting is under investigation.