The suspect in the Pasadena fatal shooting of the brother of ex LA Laker Michael Cooper is also suspected of shooting a man in the neck at the same park and pointing a gun to the head of another man while at a Pasadena gas station, police said Wednesday.
There are no connections between the victims, and no connections between the victims and the suspect, Aaron Conell, 24, of Pasadena, Pasadena Police Lt. Keith Gomez said during a Wednesday press conference held in front of Pasadena City Hall.
There’s no definite motive for the murder of Mickey Cooper or the shooting that occurred a couple of weeks earlier, he said.
“All we can tell is that Conell is diabolically evil and that seems to be the only motive that we’ve come up with so far,” Gomez said.
Usually there is a motive whether gang-related, a robbery, some type of theft, a family disturbance, he said. But in this case they found none of those.
“And so one can simply deduce that if there’s no other motive explaining why you’re driving around the city, shooting people and killing people, the only thing that I can deduce is that you’re just diabolically evil,” Gomez said.
Conell acted alone, he added. Police have recovered a loaded 9 mm handgun they believe was used in the murder and other crimes that occurred in the city in the past several weeks, Gomez said.
Police are investigating two other cases involving shootings that they suspect Conell is responsible for, he added.
Conell was charged Tuesday with the Nov. 18 murder of Mickey Cooper, the attempted murder of a second man on Oct. 29 and assault with a semiautomatic firearm on a third man on Nov. 5. Both shootings happened at Washington Park at 700 E. Washington Blvd. The assault was at a gas station near Washington Boulevard and Catalina Avenue.
The District Attorney’s Office also charged him with allegations that include inflicting great bodily injury and using a handgun while committing a felony,
His Tuesday arraignment was continued to Monday, Nov. 27, at Pasadena Superior Court.
Conell has been convicted of a misdemeanor but Gomez didn’t say for what crime. He isn’t a member of a gang and isn’t affiliated with a gang, Gomez said.
Michael Cooper, who spoke at the press conference, said the reason his brother was at Washington Park was because it was a safe haven for him, a place that he felt comfortable and safe. And the park had been that until that tragic night, the former Laker said.
“Yes, we’re going to miss Mickey but I like to feel that he’s in a better place,” Cooper said. “My brother had an addiction that he just couldn’t shake. Over the last year we tried to get him a lot of help.”
His brother may have appeared homeless but he wasn’t, Michael Cooper said, adding he had a home such as their grandmother’s house.
“I’ve tried to bring my brother to my house several times,” he said.
The first shooting at Washington Park happened just after 2 a.m. on Oct. 29. Police went to the park after getting an alert about gunshots and found a man who had been shot in the neck, according to a statement from the DA’s Office.
The assault occurred at a gas station near Washington Boulevard and Catalina Avenue the night of Nov. 5. Conell allegedly pointed a gun to the head of man sitting in a car, police and the DA statement said.
Police also responded to a ShotSpotter alert at Washington Park at 4:10 a.m. on Nov. 18 and discovered an unresponsive Mickey Cooper. ShotSpotter is a gunshot detection system.
Councilmember Justin Jones who represents the district next to Washington Park said residents have expressed their concerns about safety at the park. He said he reached out to the city manager and talked to the mayor about what they can do to improve safety.
A community meeting regarding these recent events will be Tuesday night but the location has not been confirmed, city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
Conell was being held at Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles in lieu of $4.025 million bail.