Shawn Delbert Rager

Johnstown Police Department — Johnstown, PA

Cardiac

End of Watch October 13, 2016

Age 45

Tour of Duty 23 yrs

The Vigil Panel 166 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 8

Incident

Patrolman Shawn Rager suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after completing active shooter training with the Cambria County Specialized Emergency Response Team.

He and other members of the team were conducting live fire active shooter response scenarios, which included running and shooting in simulated conditions. He returned home after the training and collapsed a short time later.

Patrolman Rager had served with the Johnstown Police Department for 23 years.

Survivors

He is survived by his wife and four children.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-PA-B228440B
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

23 years. You could have gone home.
Patrolman Rager gave the Johnstown Police Department 23 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Johnstown community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Patrolman Rager.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Johnstown Police Department

Location Johnstown, PA

Platform Identity jpd.cambria.pa.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch October 13, 2016

Tour of Duty 23 yrs

Age 45

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Cause Detail Heart attack

Patrolman Shawn Delbert Rager is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In PA, 118 of 1,261 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 9.4% of this state's fallen. That is 5.4 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.

At Johnstown Police Department, 2 of 9 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 22.2% of this agency's fallen.

Johnstown Police Department

of 9 officers

22.2% Cardiac

PA — Statewide

118

of 1,261 officers

9.4% Cardiac

Nationwide

1,306

of 32,508 officers

4% Cardiac