The boy — whose last words were “Mommy, my tummy hurts” — was shot after his mom flipped off the other driver.
One of the two people arrested in the death of 6-year-old Aiden Leos has been convicted of murder.
On Thursday, the Orange County District Attorney announced that a jury found Marcus Anthony Eriz, 26, guilty of one felony count of second-degree murder, one felony count of shooting into an occupied vehicle, and two felony enhancements of the personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury and death in the case.
The incident went down back on May 21, 2021 — while Aiden’s mother Joanna Cloonan was driving her son to kindergarten on the 55 freeway in Yorba Linda, California. The boy was in the backseat, in a booster seat at the time.
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She testified in court this week that a Volkswagen Sportswagen being driven by fellow suspect Wynne Lee cut them off, before Lee flashed a “peace” sign in her direction. As she tried to get away from the car, she said she flipped them the middle finger — claiming Eriz then “looked at me and smiled” before she heard something that sounded like “a big rock hit” her car.
Cloonan said she then heard her son say “ow” from the backseat, before she pulled over. She previously said during a press conference after the shooting that her son was “losing a lot of blood” and his last words to his mother were, “Mommy, my tummy hurts.” He later died at Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
The child’s death sparked a manhunt for the driver and passenger of the other vehicle, Lee and Eriz, respectively, who weren’t arrested until May 2021.
In interviews with police, Eriz reportedly admitted he “was angry after being ‘flipped off’ by Ms. Cloonan, so he grabbed his loaded Glock 17 9mm and racked a round,” prosecutors said. “He then rolled the passenger window down and took a shot at her vehicle. After shooting the victim, the defendants continued on to the 91 eastbound and on to work in the city of Highland.”
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It was a co-worker of Eriz’s that told him on May 28 that his car looked like the one police were looking for, prosecutors said — adding Eriz claimed “that at that time, he looked on the internet and saw the story about Aiden Leos’ death. He said he ‘immediately’ knew he was responsible for the boy’s death. He then told Wynne Lee about his revelation.”
Investigators also said that same day, Eriz hid the car in a family member’s garage and never drove it again, using a red truck to get to and from work instead. The couple both applied for new jobs. Days later, they said Eriz shaved his “substantial beard” and “started to wear his long hair back in a tie.” He pleaded not guilty in court.
Lee’s case is still pending, but she was charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact and one misdemeanor count of having a concealed firearm in a vehicle. Eriz, meanwhile, faces a maximum of 40 years to life in prison; his sentencing is slated for April 12.
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“The heartbreak of a parent losing a child is so overwhelming that no word exists to describe it,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “The short, happy life of Aiden Leos is a life interrupted, abruptly ended by a bullet that pierced Aiden’s heart. The bullet not only killed a little 6-year-old boy; it ripped a hole in the heart of all of Orange County.”
“Six-year-old boys should be playing outside in the sunshine, soaking in all the magic and wonder that is boyhood, not lying dead in a tiny, child-size coffin because a man he never met decided to execute him for no conceivable reason,” he added.
“While we will never know what Aiden would have become, we know that the pursuit of justice did not end until his killer was captured and this child murderer was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
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