AUBURN -- Edward Lemieux sat on the steps of his home Monday and looked across Rochdale Street at the cluster of flowers and candles placed on the roadside to honor fallen Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarentino Jr.

Within seconds, the 58-year-old man's eyes began to tear as his wife Tammy Lemieux rested her hand on his shoulder. It was just a day earlier, Sunday, that the couple comforted Tarentino after he was shot.

"We just did everything we could. I can still hear him talking in my brain," Edward said. "How can you tell someone they are going to be all right and then they end up being this way? He didn't even have a chance."

Tammy, 41, and Edward Lemieux were inside their 2 Caroline St. home when gunfire rang out on the street below Sunday. Tarentino, a 42-year-old officer, had just pulled over a vehicle on Rochdale Street.

The driver of the vehicle shot the officer and drove off, police said.

The couple first thought people were using firecrackers at 12:30 a.m. When they looked outside however, they saw Tarentino's cruiser.

"We heard him say, 'Officer down, officer down. I need assistance, I need assistance'," Tammy said. "I just grabbed towels and we flew down there."

Edward held a towel behind Tarentino's head to comfort him as he was on the ground outside his cruiser.

"I've been shot," the officer said.

"Just stay with us," Edward replied.

Tammy took Tarentino's hand and tried to comfort the married father of three. She rubbed his arm and told him he'd be OK.

"We really didn't see him as a cop, we saw him as a human being in trouble," Edward said. "We tried to get him out of our head. We can still hear him calling for help and talking to us."

Tarentino was rushed to UMass Memorial Medical Center -- University Campus in Worcester where he was pronounced dead.

The man police say is responsible for the shooting, 35-year-old Jorge Zambrano, was found hiding in Oxford and killed by law enforcement after a long standoff.

Zambrano shot a trooper at the scene, but the trooper's injury is non-life threatening.