James John Rapozo was a 33-year-old Visalia Police Department officer killed on January 9, 1998, while serving on a high-risk SWAT entry. The team was executing a search warrant to arrest Alfonso Hernandez in connection with a Christmas Eve shooting that had injured five people. Hernandez, who reportedly vowed not to be taken alive, opened fire with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun during the raid.

Officer Rapozo was struck by a round that entered through his underarm and penetrated his chest despite wearing a bulletproof vest. He was taken to Kaweah Delta District Hospital and died during surgery that evening. Hernandez was found dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds; the recovered handgun was identified as the same caliber used in the earlier shooting. A third person at the apartment was injured but survived.

Rapozo had served six years with the department and was a member of the SWAT team; his death was the department’s first line-of-duty fatality since 1946 and drew hundreds to his funeral. Does anyone have memories of Rapozo’s service or information about the unit’s operations that night?