Lakers Legend Michael Cooper's Brother, Mickey, Shot Dead in Pasadena

Former Lakers ace and ABC7 sports correspondent Michael Cooper and his family have been rocked by tragedy after the star's brother Mickey was shot dead on Saturday.

The shooting happened in the early hours of the morning, when police were alerted to gunfire in a park in Pasadena, California. Officers arrived at Washington Park after the 4 a.m. incident to find an unresponsive man suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene in the 700 block of West Washington Boulevard.

Basketball legend of the 1980s, Michael Cooper, 67, confirmed to local news channel ABC7 that the victim was his younger brother, 64-year-old Mickey Cooper. The siblings used to play basketball together in the same park when they were children, Michael Cooper said.

The Gun Violence Archive, a database that collects information about shootings across the U.S., has calculated that 38,130 people have died after being shot so far in 2023; that figure also includes suicides and accidental deaths.

Sunday's incident follows a string of shootings in California this year that has left the state reeling. Seven people were killed in two mass shootings on just one Monday in January, which itself came just days after another firearm incident left 11 dead. In August, three people were killed and several more suffered gunshot wounds when a suspect believed to have been a retired police officer opened fire in a biker bar.

On Monday, just a day after Mickey Cooper's body was found, police arrested a man on suspicion of his murder.

Pasadena Police Department said in a statement that Aaron Miguel Conell, 24, of Pasadena was "identified [as] a person of interest only a few hours after the homicide." Conell was thought to pose "an immediate threat to the public," so detectives worked with several agencies including a SWAT team and a K9 unit to apprehend him, the statement added.

Conell was initially arrested for an unrelated charge—assault with a firearm—before further investigation led officers to add the charge of murder in connection with Mickey Cooper's death, police said. The details surrounding the alleged crime remain unclear and officers did not suggest a possible motive. Conell is being held on $2 million bail.

Details about Mickey Cooper's death remain sparse, but ABC7, the outlet that broke the story, said he had been shot several times. Michael Cooper spoke to ABC7 to confirm the details surrounding the incident, and the station shared a photograph of Mickey Cooper on social media site X (formerly known as Twitter).

In an interview with ABC 7, distraught Michael Cooper says his brother had led a troubled life after battling with drug addiction, but added that he was deeply loved by his family. "We tried to help him all through this process," he said. "And he chose to live this life, but that doesn't mean that somebody can come take his life."

Describing his younger brother, he added: "He just went about his life, didn't bother anybody, loved everybody. For somebody to come take his life, [as if] that nobody loved him? He was loved by a lot of people."

Officers found Mickey Cooper after rushing to the scene to investigate when noise-monitoring technology, known as "ShotSpotter," detected possible gunfire and alerted them to a potential shooting in the area.

Anyone with information about the shooting should contact Pasadena police at (626)744-4241 or provide anonymous information via Crime Stoppers at (800)222-TIPS.

The Cooper siblings were born in Los Angeles and attended school in Pasadena.

During Michael Cooper's stint with the Lakers, where he played alongside other fan favorites including Magic Johnson, the team won five championships between 1980 and 1988. The 6-foot-7-inch star stayed in the industry after he retired and went on to work as a coach. More recently, he has appeared on TV as a basketball analyst.

The shooting this weekend comes almost a month after another man was found suffering from a gunshot wound in the same park in similar circumstances.

That victim was discovered just before 2:20 a.m. local time on Sunday, October 29, and was again found by police who were acting upon a ShotSpotter detection alert, according to local news website Pasadena Now. The victim was described as being critically injured and he was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Update 11/20/23 9:01 a.m. ET: This article was updated with further information throughout.

Update 11/21/23 9:44 a.m. ET: This article was updated with details about Aaron Miguel Conell's arrest and Michael Cooper's tribute to his brother.