Idaho Medal of Honor Recipient
August 4, 2021

Officer Matthew Rapattoni
Caldwell Police Department

On the evening of September 23, 2021, Caldwell Police Department Patrol Officer Matthew Rapattoni responded to a call from a Nampa residence by a woman reporting her husband had a gun and was threatening to kill himself.  Officer Rapattoni was the first to arrive on the scene.  Upon his arrival, while still seated in his patrol vehicle a block away from the residence, the suspect started shooting at him from a second story window.  Officer Rapattoni’s vehicle was struck multiple times.  While exiting his vehicle to find better cover, Officer Rapattoni was shot in the hand.  He moved to the rear of the vehicle and was pinned down by gunfire.  Though he was wounded, he was able to provide information on the radio, communicate and coordinate positions with the officers arriving on the scene, and direct citizens out of the area.  When the suspect’s wife came running out of the back door of the residence, Officer Rapattoni, without regard for his own safety, ran into the open and assisted her to a safe location.  At that position the suspect called his wife’s cell phone.  Officer Rapattoni spoke with the suspect calmly to keep him occupied and thinking rationally while the other officers formulated a plan to address the threat on the scene.  The SWAT team was eventually able to take the suspect into custody after long negotiations.

Through indomitable courage, complete disregard for his own safety, and profound concern for the safety of others, Officer Matthew Rapattoni showed great determination and bravery.  Officer Rapattoni’s extraordinary heroism and intrepidity, with danger to his own life above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions of the Caldwell Police Department and Idaho law enforcement.