Arraignment Rescheduled to Wednesday for Man Charged in Killing of Ex-Laker’s Brother

Arraignment was postponed two days for the local man accused of killing the brother of former NBA star Michael Cooper in a Pasadena park.

Aaron Miguel Conell refused to leave his cell for his arraignment, according to one person in the courtroom Monday.

The judge was reportedly expected to file an extraction order to compel Conell to appear in court on Wednesday.

Conell was originally scheduled to be arraigned Monday in a Pasadena courtroom on a murder count stemming from the killing of Mickey Cooper, 64, on Saturday, Nov. 18.

Conell has also been charged with the attempted murder of a second man shot in the park last month. The charges include allegations that Conell personally used a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun during the commission of the crimes and that he personally inflicted great bodily injury on the victim in the Oct. 29 shooting.

He also faces one count of assault with a semi-automatic firearm for allegedly walking up to a car and pointing the gun at a man seated in the driver’s seat at a gas station in Pasadena just before 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 5, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The incidents left local residents worried about public safety in the area. 

Police were alerted to the incidents via the ShotSpotter gunshot detection alert system. The alert may have saved the life of one of the victims, whom paramedics transported to Huntington Hospital. 

Conell remains jailed in lieu of $4.25 million bail.

Police coordinated an arrest operation with members of the U.S. Marshals Service Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force and the department’s SWAT and K-9 units, according to Pasadena police Lt. Monica Cuellar.

Conell was initially booked at the Pasadena City Jail on suspicion of assault with a firearm, but detectives obtained additional evidence so he was additionally booked on suspicion of murder, Cuellar said.

Conell could face more than 50 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.