A community gathered in its grief to remember the life of fallen Tulare County Sheriff's Deputy Randy Hoppert.
This past weekend, the Visalia Rawhide brainstormed how it could show its support for Deputy Hoppert - the Valley hero, father and husband who was tragically shot and killed in Porterville on April 9.
Over the weekend, the Visalia Rawhide announced a memorial game in Hoppert's honor. Hours after posting the game on social media, Rawhide instantly saw ticket sales skyrocket.
"When we announced this over the weekend in 48 hours, we saw 800 tickets sold," said Visalia Rawhide broadcaster Griffin Epstein.
Hours before the first pitch, that number tripling to more than 2,400. Rawhide staff tracked where fans purchased tickets including as far east as New York.
"It's just incredibly heartwarming to see all the support we've seen from not just here in the county, but across the country," said Epstein.
People like Kelly Mueller, who was one of the first fans to purchase a ticket for Thursday's sold-out game. The Visalia native comes from a law enforcement family and was not surprised by the outpouring of support.
"It hit us hard when he was taken from us last week. So, I think it's going to be an amazing night just to honor him," said Mueller.
The 35-year-old husband and father was shot and killed while he was responding to the call of shots fired at deputies who were serving an eviction notice to 59-year-old David Morales.
"It was heroism that took place as they were under constant hours of repeated gunfire and they were saving lives," said Tulare County Sheriff's Mike Bourdreaux.
Sheriff Mike Boudreaux described this time as one of grieving. He leads an agency of deputies who are deeply hurting and hopes for days of healing moving forward.
"That's what Randy would want, Randy would want us as law enforcement to tie our boots back up and get back out into the field," said Sheriff Boudreaux.
100 percent of ticket sales from Thursday's game against the Inland Empire 66ers will go directly toward the Hoppert family with the Visalia Rawhide matching that number along with Gropetti Automotive.
The memorial service for Deputy Randy Hoppert will be held at the end of the month at Visalia First Assembly.
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