The Grape Street Park adjacent to Balboa Park will Saturday be renamed after two San Diego Police Officers were shot there by a gunman in 1984.
City leaders will hold a ceremony at 10 a.m. to honor the sacrifice of Officers Kimberly Tonahill and Timothy Ruopp on the 40th anniversary of their murders. The park will be renamed the Officer Tonahill and Officer Ruopp Memorial Park.
On Sept. 14, 1984, Tonahill, 24, and Ruopp, 31, approached a car with four people inside, two men and two girls. Ruopp began writing a citation to one of the men for contributing to the delinquency of minors while Tonahill was questioning the other man.
The man Tonahill was speaking to pulled out a handgun and shot her as she began to search him. The bullet struck her in the side where her bullet-proof vest did not cover her body. The man then shot Ruopp in the leg before approaching him and shooting him in the head.
Officer Gary Mitrovich arrived at Grape Street Park after hearing the gunshots, where he was then shot by the assailant. Mitrovich fired back, wounding the man, who ran deeper into the park as backup arrived. He was arrested when the sun rose. He was tried and convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
Tonahill died that day, while Ruopp succumbed to his wounds on Sept. 16. Tonahill had served 11 months in uniform and was survived by her parents. Ruopp served two years and six months and was survived by his wife and four children.
Members of the Tonahill and Ruopp families, along with Mayor Todd Gloria, Chief Scott Wahl, Councilman Stephen Whitburn and retired Det. Sgt. Mitrovich will be on hand Saturday to rename the park.
Mitrovich served with the SDPD for more than 32 years, earning the Medal of Valor and Purple Heart Award for his actions that night in 1984.
– City News Service
