Arrest Made in York Shooting

Police have arrested a Compton man and booked him on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with the shooting of Hawthorne City Councilman David York in November.

Police said the suspect, Michael Rosell, 27, was part of an auto-theft ring that resorted at times to armed robbery to fill orders for specific makes and models.

York, 48, was shot in the abdomen on Nov. 22 as he, his wife Judy, their 8-year-old daughter and her friend were getting into his car in the parking lot of the Galleria at South Bay in Redondo Beach. York, a former Hawthorne police lieutenant, said the man walked up to him, demanded the keys to the car and then almost immediately shot him with a semiautomatic weapon.

York’s maroon 1985 Chevrolet El Camino was stolen and later found abandoned and burned in Compton.

The bullet entered York’s left side, causing extensive damage to his small and large intestines.

Friends and city officials donated blood, and welcomed York back to the City Council on Dec. 23 in an emotional ceremony.

The investigation into the shooting was conducted jointly by the Hawthorne and Redondo Beach police departments and the West Regional Burglary Team, which coordinates efforts among several police departments. The investigation picked up steam when the Hawthorne Traffic Bureau began looking into an auto theft ring based in Compton, according to police.

Police did not reveal how Rosell was linked to the group or how they identified him as York’s suspected assailant. York could not be reached for comment.