The proceeding, set for 8:30 a.m. in Department H, represents the next step in determining whether sufficient evidence exists to require Conell to stand trial. He faces one count each of murder, attempted murder, and assault with a semiautomatic firearm. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Prosecutors allege Conell shot Mickey Cooper at approximately 4 a.m. on November 18, 2023, at the park in the 700 block of East Washington Boulevard. Officers responded after the Pasadena Police Department’s ShotSpotter gunshot detection system — since renamed SoundThinking — alerted them to gunfire. Cooper was found with multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
The murder charge is part of what prosecutors describe as a series of apparently random violent incidents. Conell is also charged with shooting a man in the neck at Washington Park on October 29, 2023, causing life-threatening injuries, and with pointing a semiautomatic firearm at a man seated in a car at a Pasadena gas station on November 5, 2023, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Police arrested Conell less than 24 hours after the fatal shooting. Investigators recovered a loaded 9-millimeter semiautomatic firearm from his vehicle, which they said they believe was used in all three alleged crimes.
“Aaron Conell is diabolically evil, that’s the only motive we’ve come up with so far,” Lt. Keith Gomez of the Pasadena Police Department said at a 2023 press conference. Police have said they found no connection between Conell and any of his alleged victims.
The case drew national attention in part because of the Cooper family’s deep roots in Pasadena. Michael Cooper, a five-time NBA champion and the 1987 Defensive Player of the Year, grew up near Washington Park and attended Pasadena High School and Pasadena City College before his Hall of Fame career with the Lakers. The Lakers retired his No. 21 jersey in 2025.
“We lived 10 houses down,” Michael Cooper told ABC7 after his brother’s death. “This is a park where we grew up playing. That’s why he felt comfortable and safe here.”
Michael Cooper described his younger brother as a gentle person who struggled with addiction and often slept at Washington Park.
“He had an addiction he just couldn’t shake,” Cooper said at a November 2023 press conference. His brother, he said, “was loved by a lot of people.”
Conell has no prior felony convictions and no gang affiliations, according to court records. He remains in custody with bail set at $4.25 million. If convicted on all counts, he faces more than 50 years to life in state prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The case is assigned to Judge Rupa S. Goswami in Department H of the Pasadena Courthouse, 300 E. Walnut St.
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