A year ago, Sarita Flaming visited for the first time the park at 28th and Grape streets, at the eastern edge of Balboa Park near South Park, where her best friend Kimberly Tonahill had been shot and killed along with fellow San Diego police Officer Timothy Ruopp 39 years earlier.
“It was a beautiful September day. There were all these people walking their dogs. I wanted to get out of my car, through my tears, and walk up and say, ‘Okay, cute dog, but do you know what happened here?’” Flaming told The San Diego Union-Tribune. “I thought, I’ve got to do something about this. So I came home and told my husband, ‘I’m going to get that park renamed.’”
And she did.
On Saturday, the 40th anniversary of the tragic shooting, the city of San Diego officially renamed Grape Street Park the Officer Tonahill and Officer Ruopp Memorial Park.
The name change was commemorated during a 45-minute-long ceremony attended by more than 100 people, including Police Chief Scott Wahl, Mayor Todd Gloria, Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, family members and friends.
Even park-goers and their dogs, taking advantage of what is now a 5-acre dog park, stopped to hear about the significance of what took place on Sept. 14, 1984.
The day started like any other for the Ruopp family, with all four kids helping their 31-year-old dad get ready for work, his widow Kathleen Riggs-Ruopp said during the ceremony.
The officer, an ordained minister who had felt called by God to be a cop, then held his kids in his arms and said, “I love you, and I will see you in the morning,” his widow recounted.
That night, around 11 p.m., Ruopp was on patrol when he went to the park and spotted two men and two teen girls drinking in a parked car, according to news clips at the time. While giving the men citations, Ruopp called for backup, and Tonahill, a 24-year-old rookie, responded to assist.
Both were fatally shot shortly thereafter.
Tonahill died at the scene from a bullet, fired at close range, that went through a lung and her heart. Ruopp died a few days later from a bullet wound to his head.
Retired detective Sgt. Gary Mitrovich was on patrol nearby when he heard gunshots and soon arrived at what he described as an eerily quiet parking lot.
“I saw Tim on the ground behind his car. So I got on the air and I asked for 1199. That means ‘Officer needs help,’” he said. “As soon as I did that, I saw a head pop up behind the civilian car … and I told him to freeze. And the next thing I saw was flashes. He starts shooting at me.”
Mitrovich, who was shot in the left shoulder, returned fire. But the suspect fled.
Joselito Cinco, 25 at the time, was later arrested, found in a nearby canyon marsh after a nightlong search. Cinco was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1988. He killed himself in prison later that year.
Tonahill and Ruopp “had so much life ahead of them. Their time was unfortunately cut short, but their lives and memories live on through all the people who they’ve impacted,” said Wahl, the police chief.
“The 40th anniversary of that fateful night, however, marks a new beginning,” Wahl added. “This very park, that is used by so many San Diegans, will forever be renamed in their honor.”
Tonahill is the only female San Diego police officer ever killed in the line of duty, Wahl said.
Metal signs with the park’s new name will be installed in the coming days, along with a large, concrete sign in a few months.
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