A couple in Massachusetts had just gone to bed when they heard a commotion outside their home. A lone cop had been shot by a thug, who immediately took off, leaving the officer there to die when the couple found him in their yard. With no backup around to see it, the pair made a quick plan, the results of which left arriving help in shock.

Auburn police officer Ronald Tarentino had been ambushed by Jorge Zambrano, who cowardly scampered off into the darkness, leaving the brave 45-year-old father-of-three alone to suffer the consequences right outside Tammy Lemieux’s house. The woman and her husband were startled by what they thought were firecrackers when they went out to investigate and saw what really happened.

Before they even made it out the front door, their hearts sank at the sound of a desperate man using his dying breath to yell out for help. “Help!” and “Officer down!”the Lemieuxes heard Tarentino shout, as they opened the door and saw his bloody body on the ground. Without hesitation, they grabbed towels and ran to the mortally wounded cop, but what Tammy did next would leave arriving officers speechless.

Holding his hand as her husband supported his head in his hands, she whispered reassuring words of kindness and peace to this complete stranger. “I held his hand and I told him everything would be okay and my husband held his head up with a towel. He said, ‘help me, help me.’ I said, ‘help is on the way,'” the compassionate woman explained to WFXT. Tragically, the officer paid the ultimate price for his profession and was pronounced dead not long after.

“I hope he rests in peace knowing he wasn’t alone, that me and my husband were with him, and I want him to be at peace and his family to be at peace knowing he wasn’t alone,” Tammy said, who also helped his comrades set up a memorial where he passed, adding an angel in the exact spot where she held the officer’s hand.

The cop’s killer was soon found, and after a standoff with police, he was killed, right after he shot another cop at the scene. This couple didn’t know it at the time, but they were true angels to this officer who, without them, would have died alone in the street. In tragedy, look for the helpers, the ones who were there for a reason, like the Lemieuxes were. What they did was a selfless show of respect for a man who died trying to protect his community.