Roll of Honor
Incident
Chief of Police Cole Shatswell suffered a fatal heart attack while investigating a shoplifting in progress. When he arrived at the scene the suspect fled and Chief Shatswell chased him across the street, where he collapsed. A doctor who witnessed the incident began CPR but was unable to revive him.
Survivors
Chief Shatswell was survived by his wife and three sons.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-IA-AC424F13- 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
I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Chief of Police Shatswell served with the Onawa Police Department.
Thank you for your service to the Onawa community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Chief of Police Shatswell.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Chief of Police Cole B. Shatswell 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 IA, 11 of 226 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 4.9% of this state's fallen. That is 0.9 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.
National Cause Distribution
How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Cole B. Shatswell's cause is highlighted.
How Cole B. Shatswell Compares
When Cardiac Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. Cole B. Shatswell is highlighted in Oct.