Cst. Emmanuel Joseph Aucoin

NB Highway Patrol – Cst. Emmanuel Joseph Aucoin, 31

A New York man has been arrested and charged with first degree murder in connection with the shooting death of a New Brunswick Highway Patrol officer Sunday morning.

Constable Emmanuel (Manny) Joseph Aucoin, 31, of the Harvey detachment was shot and killed at about 10:30 am on a deserted wooded stretch of Route 640 about 20 kilometres southwest of Fredericton, near Lake Yoho.

The officer, who began his shift alone at 9:00 am, is believed to have stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation.

He was found at 11:06 am in his cruiser slumped behind the wheel by a passing motorist who notified the police. The cruiser’s emergency lights were still flashing.

Police sources say Aucoin was shot in the head and he never had the opportunity to contact his detachment for assistance.

A three-year member of the Patrol, Aucoin is survived by a wife and two small children. He was a native of Prince-Edward Island resided in the Harvey area.

Meanwhile, the Massachusetts State Police arrested Anthony P. Romeo, 24, of Locust Valley, New York, at Logan International Airport in Boston yesterday afternoon as he left a plane from Bangor, Me.

Romeo apparently managed to get out of the country ahead of a web of roadblocks and border patrols. Officials at the US border at Calais, Me., confirmed that a car matching the description of Romeo’s gold-coloured Porsche sports car crossed the border from New Brunswick at 11:30 am, Sunday.

Police in Bangor found the rented Porsche with New York licence plates at the Bangor airport and are holding it in connection with the investigation. Romeo boarded a Boston-bound Delta Airlines flight.