Richard Wellington Smith

Police Officer Richard Smith was shot and killed while he and other officers searched for a suspect in the basement of a hotel. The suspect was wanted for failing to appear in court for assaulting his girlfriend with a knife. The suspect was hiding in a storeroom and saw Officer Smith through a crack in the wall. The man opened fire through a wooden partition, fatally wounding Officer Smith. The suspect, 46, then shot and killed himself. Officer Smith was a United States Army WWII Intelligence Officer veteran and had served with the Tulare Police Department for six months. He was survived by his wife and mother. In 1978 a street was named Richard Smith Street in Officer Smith's honor.