Fallen L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Joseph Solano honored at memorial service

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Loved ones and colleagues gathered at a memorial service on Monday to say their final farewell to fallen Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Joseph Solano, who was fatally shot in Alhambra earlier this month.

The memorial services were held at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown L.A.

Solano's casket was brought inside the cathedral by his colleagues with loved ones and other deputies in attendance during the service.

"You will be remembered forever as an angel... I will hold you in my heart forever," his partner Julianna Loza said during her eulogy.

She described him as a one-of-a-kind man who took care of others.

"I want to let you know that we're with you, all the way. We'll always be with you,'' said Sheriff Alex Villanueva about Solano's family during the service.

A procession went through the streets of East L.A. after the memorial service as Solano was laid to rest at Calvary Cemetery.

Solano, 50, was off-duty and in civilian clothes when he was shot in the head waiting in line at a Jack in the Box restaurant on June 10 in an apparent random attack.

His final act was being a dutiful son, getting the oil changed for his mother and then stopping into the fast-food restaurant for some food while he waited.

Solano was a 13-year veteran of the department. He was described as a well-liked deputy and a dedicated family man.

The suspect in the killing, 30-year-old Rhett Nelson of St. George, Utah, was charged June 13. Nelson is also a suspect in an another fatal shooting in central Los Angeles that occurred only hours before the deputy was shot. He is facing charges of murder, attempted murder and armed robbery.

Sheriff's officials said there appears to be no known motive in Solano's shooting.

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