A Pasadena man was charged Tuesday with fatally shooting the brother of former Los Angeles Laker Michael Cooper at Washington Park in Pasadena over the weekend.
In addition to murder, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged 24-year-old Aaron Miguel Conell with attempted murder and assault with an automatic firearm, said Pamela Johnson, a spokeswoman for the DA’s Office.
If convicted of all counts, she said Conell faces a sentence of 50 years to life in prison. Conell was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at Pasadena Superior Court but it was continued to Wednesday, a court official said.
The victim, 64-year-old Mickey Cooper, died from a gunshot wound to the head, according to the medical examiner’s office.
“I can’t understand why this young man took his life. He had nothing,” Michael Cooper said. “That is the big question. ‘Why? Why kill him?’”
His brother wasn’t bothering anyone and was not confrontational, the former Laker added.
Authorities have not released details about the attempter murder or the second victim.
Pasadena police have not revealed a motive in the Saturday shooting but plan to hold a news conference about it on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
Officers checking a ShotSpotter alert about gunshots at the park at 700 East Washington Blvd. shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday found a wounded Mickey Cooper. He died at the scene.
Since 2022, Pasadena has been using ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system that was placed in a 3-square mile area in the northwest part of the city.
Police also did not say how they identified Conell as a person of interest in the shooting. He was arrested Saturday night and booked on an unrelated assault with a firearm charge. Detectives over the weekend obtained further evidence on the shooting and Conell was booked on suspicion of murder on Monday, a Pasadena police statement said.
Cooper said his brother had a drug problem. He put him in rehab in Long Beach six months ago.
“He promised me he would stay a year,” Michael Cooper said, adding his brother left after 10 days. “I really believe if he stayed there, he would be alive.”
His brother collected cans to sell at a local recycling center and was often at Washington Park, he said.
“We’ve known that park all our lives,” Michael Cooper said. They used to play basketball there and had lived 10 houses down from the park, he said. “He felt comfortable there.”
In their conversations, his brother had never mentioned the name Aaron Conell before, Cooper said.
He last talked to his sibling five days before the shooting. He told him it was getting cold and to stay with their grandmother in Altadena.
“He assured me he would,” Michael Cooper said.
