After 34 years on the police force, John Maguire had finally put in his retirement papers.

He told relatives who for years had asked the 60-year-old officer to slow down that he was taking their advice. Starting Jan. 1, he would be off the busy night shift and working days and then leave the department in the next year or so.

"He kept assuring me that he wasn't going to be working that many hours,' a close relative said. "He had a nice home and a nice family to enjoy. He was looking forward to retirement, but he never made it.'

Late Sunday night, Woburn Police Chief Philip Mahoney told Maguire's wife of 23 years that her husband had been fatally shot responding to an armed robbery at a Kohl's store.

"One of the saddest duties I ever had to do was informing her what happened,' Mahoney said yesterday. "I can't tell you how traumatic that was.'

Mahoney struggled to maintain his composure during a press conference at his station, where he fought back tears as officers in uniform stood behind him. At least 30 officers, several from nearby towns such as Winchester and Burlington, waited almost three hours for the arraignment of the two men arrested in connection with the killing. Dominic Cinelli, the man police said shot Maguire, was killed during the shootout with Maguire.

"We lost one of our own today,' said Police Chief Richard E. Smith of Wakefield, standing outside the police station in the whipping late afternoon wind. Smith had been at the station since about 7 a.m., where he and Police Chief Edward P. Deveau of Watertown had gone to support Mahoney, Smith's longtime friend and mentor.

Smith brought donuts and coffee for the Woburn officers, many of whom had not gone home since the shooting.

The mood was somber, but busy in the station, Smith said. Officers and supervisors shook hands and hugged, then quickly got to work, putting together paperwork for the arraignment and helping the family with funeral arrangements.

"They have a job to do,' Smith said. "That doesn't mean they're not hurting inside. . . . At some point, they'll sit down and say 'My God, what happened,' but in the interim they're professionals. They have a lot of work to do, and a lot of work to do going forward, preparing this case and making sure each one keeps their head on straight.'

Officers and relatives remembered Maguire as a laid-back father of three with a dry sense of humor, who made a delicious lasagna and had an affinity for telling wild tales.

Just recently, he had picked up the mandolin, his relatives said. They asked that their names be withheld because his immediate family did not wish to speak with the media.

"He loved music,' said another relative. "He was a real fun guy. He'd tell you some story that something happened that was so preposterous you'd think, 'Now that must have happened because nobody could make that up.' But he could, and with a straight face.'

A voracious reader, he loved mystery novels and was often seen around the station or heading to court toting his paperbacks.

He could have retired earlier, but he loved the job and wanted to provide for his family, said Mahoney.

"He loved working,' he said. "He worked around the clock.'

But with Mahoney, a 41-year veteran of the department who is leaving next year, Maguire began questioning how much longer he should stay.

"I think he realized it was time,' one of the relatives said.

He said that after he retired, he would be spending a lot of time at a second home in Maine, where he had found a musical group that liked to perform sing-alongs, the relative said.

"He was working all the time,' she said. "We were always after him to slow down. Now, look at this. Look at this. At 60, to be gone.'