Memorial service for Rialto Councilman Shawn…
Memorial service for Rialto Councilman Shawn O'Connell set for Tuesday
Rialto City Councilman Shawn O'Connell.
By Jim Steinberg | jsteinberg@scng.com | San Bernardino Sun
June 10, 2016 at 12:44 a.m.
RIALTO >> A memorial service will be held for Rialto Councilman Shawn O'Connell at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Sunrise Church, Rialto Police Chief Randy DeAnda said Thursday.
A retired Rialto police sergeant, O'Connell was found dead in has van Sunday morning in the parking lot of a Loma Linda restaurant.
The event is open to the public, DeAnda said.
The church, 2759 N. Ayala Drive in Rialto, holds about 3,000 people, DeAnda said. Rialto police and fire officials will be assisting with the logistics for the services, he said.
The cause of death has not been determined, DeAnda said.
O'Connell is survived by four sisters, three from the Boston area and one from San Bernardino, DeAnda said.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Arlington Mortuary in Riverside. A spokeswoman there declined to identify the survivors, citing "family privacy."
O'Connell, 48, was left partially paralyzed as the result of a recreational off-road vehicle accident in the mid-2000s, DeAnda and friends said.
Rialto police actively searched for him Sunday morning after he did not appear at a fundraising event Saturday night for Friends of the Rialto Library — an event O'Connell told many in the city he was planning to attend, DeAnda said.
Judy Roberts, a friend of O'Connell's for decades, said he was going to give her a ride to the event Saturday night, but he called her shortly after 3:30 p.m. that day to tell her he would be late.
Roberts, who lives a few blocks away from O'Connell's Rialto residence, said she never heard from him again and could not reach him by phone.
Jim Steinberg | reporter
Jim Steinberg is a national-award winning environmental writer. He also covers medical and healthcare issues, drones and aviation, military and the cities of Fontana and Rialto.
jsteinberg@scng.com
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